SNCA and Parkinson disease: To test the efficacy of rifabutin in reducing α-synuclein-medicated dopaminergic neurodegeneration in a mammalian model in vivo, we used an AAV-based rat model in which a unilateral stereotactic injection of virus results in expression of human mutant A53T α-synuclein in the dopaminergic neurons of the SN [29, 68] (the most prominently affected brain region in PD).