Carbon Nanotubes as Potential Agents against Fibrillation of α-Synuclein, a Parkinson’s Disease-Related Protein

Parkinson’s disease (PD), is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. The pathogenesis of PD is associated with α-Synuclein (αS) fibrillation. Previous works have indicated that blocking αS aggregation could be an effective strategy for the treatment of PD. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have specific properties that make them potentially useful in biomedicine and biotechnology. CNTs can access the brain, but no investigation has been done to survey the effect of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) or multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on αS fibrillation. Through the use of Thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and MTT assay, we found for the first time that both type of CNTs can significantly inhibit αS aggregation and subsequently change its neurotoxicity. While a complete mechanistic understanding remains to be elucidated, these data indicate that CNTs may have high therapeutic potential for the use against neuropathological features of PD.