The oxidative stress-related reactive aldehydes 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) and 4-oxo-2-nonenal (ONE) have been shown to promote formation of alpha-synuclein oligomers in vitro. However, the changes in secondary structure of alpha-synuclein and the kinetics of the oligomerization process are not known and were the focus of this study. Size exclusion chromatography showed that after 1 h of incubation, HNE induced the formation of an oligomeric alpha-synuclein peak with a molecular weight of about similar to 2000 kDa, which coincided with a decreasing similar to 50 kDa monomeric peak. With prolonged incubation (up to 24 h) the oligomeric peak became the dominating molecular species. In contrast, in the presence of ONE, a similar to 2000 oligomeric peak was exclusively observed after 15 min of incubation and this peak remained constant with prolonged incubation. Western blot analysis of HNE-induced alpha-synuclein oligomers showed the presence of monomers (15 kDa), SDS-resistant low molecular (30-160 kDa) and high molecular weight oligomers (>= 260 kDa), indicating that the oligomers consisted of both covalent and non-covalent protein. In contrast, ONE-induced alpha-synuclein oligomers only migrated as covalent cross-linked high molecular-weight material (>= 300 kDa). Both circular dichroism (CD) and Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy showed that the formation of HNE- and ONE-induced oligomers coincided with a spectral change from random coil to beta-sheet. However, ONE-induced alpha-synuclein oligomers exhibited a slightly higher degree of beta-sheet. Taken together, our results indicate that both HNE and ONE induce a change from random coil to beta-sheet structure that coincides with the formation of alpha-synuclein oligomers; albeit through different kinetic pathways depending on the degree of cross-linking. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.