Amazing stuff! What little we still know about our brain!
"When key “housekeeper” brain cells grow in lab dishes, they spawn unusual microscopic vesicles that can move on their own and carry energy-generating organelles ... The biologists have dubbed their discovery zombosomes because the blobs can move like cells for a period despite lacking a nucleus, which acts as a cell's control center. The group also showed the membrane-bound messengers ferry proteins related to Parkinson’s disease, suggesting they may contribute to it and other brain disorders. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Zombosomes are shed nuclear bodies of astrocytes that remain motile
• Pathological aggregates can hijack zombosomes, promoting cell-to-cell propagation
• Zombosomes with α-synuclein deposits induce pathology in 2D and 3D hiPSC models
• Zombosome-like bodies with α-synuclein content are present in the human brain
Summary
Astrocytes not only play a central role in orchestrating the brain’s microenvironment but also are tightly connected to neurodegenerative processes. Hence, unraveling astrocytes’ intercellular pathways can give important insight into disease-spreading mechanisms. Here, we describe a distinct form of actively migrating cellular vehicles, which we have named zombosomes. Zombosomes shed from astrocytes but retain their adhesive and motile properties, even though they lack nuclei.
They share protein markers with their parental astrocytes, including highly packed vimentin, and are loaded with intact organelles.
Importantly, zombosomes act as disease couriers, transferring α-synuclein aggregates from one cell to another, and have the capacity to infiltrate and induce pathology in cerebral organoids.
Human brain sections show scattered vimentin-rich zombosomes with no attachments to nearby astrocytes, which contain deposits of aggregated α-synuclein.
Taken together, our findings represent an interaction pathway between distant cells through “live” vehicles that when misused, may cause propagation of Parkinson’s disease pathology."
Graphical abstract
Figure 1. Zombosomes, a distinct form of actively migrating intercellular shuttle, originating from astrocytes
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