Our lab got a major publication accepted to Journal of Neuroscience! In the article entitled “Inhibition of Prolyl Oligopeptidase Restores Spontaneous Motor Behavior in the α-Synuclein Virus Vector–Based Parkinson’s Disease Mouse Model by Decreasing α-Synuclein Oligomeric Species in Mouse Brain” by Reinis Svarcbahs, Ulrika Julku and Timo Myöhänen we showed that PREP inhibitor treatment can restore behavioral deficit caused by alpha-synuclein overexpression in mice. Importantly, the treatment was started when the behavioral symptoms were already measurable and only in 2 weeks of treatment, the symptoms were reduced to control level. Analysis revealed that toxic alpha-synuclein oligomers were significantly decreased by PREP inhibitor treatment and mice dopaminergic system was also showing signs of recovery. The paper can be found in Journal of Neuroscience webpage (requires purchasing or institutional access).

Our publication was nicely noticed in Finnish media, and 24 different newspaper or news services picked it to their webpage. Public announcement can be found in University of Helsinki webpage.