scholarly journals Late Onset Death of Motor Neurons in Mice Overexpressing Wild-Type Peripherin

1999 ◽  
Vol 147 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Martin Beaulieu ◽  
Minh Dang Nguyen ◽  
Jean-Pierre Julien

Peripherin, a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein, upregulated by injury and inflammatory cytokines, is a component of IF inclusion bodies associated with degenerating motor neurons in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We report here that sustained overexpression of wild-type peripherin in mice provokes massive and selective degeneration of motor axons during aging. Remarkably, the onset of peripherin-mediated disease was precipitated by a deficiency of neurofilament light (NF-L) protein, a phenomenon associated with sporadic ALS. In NF-L null mice, the overexpression of peripherin led to early- onset formation of IF inclusions and to the selective death of spinal motor neurons at 6 mo of age. We also report the formation of similar peripherin inclusions in presymptomatic transgenic mice expressing a mutant form of superoxide dismutase linked to ALS. Taken together, these results suggest that IF inclusions containing peripherin may play a contributory role in motor neuron disease.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiaki Furukawa

Dominant mutations in a Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) gene cause a familial form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While it remains controversial how SOD1 mutations lead to onset and progression of the disease, manyin vitroandin vivostudies have supported a gain-of-toxicity mechanism where pathogenic mutations contribute to destabilizing a native structure of SOD1 and thus facilitate misfolding and aggregation. Indeed, abnormal accumulation of SOD1-positive inclusions in spinal motor neurons is a pathological hallmark in SOD1-related familial ALS. Furthermore, similarities in clinical phenotypes and neuropathology of ALS cases with and without mutations insod1gene have implied a disease mechanism involving SOD1 common to all ALS cases. Although pathogenic roles of wild-type SOD1 in sporadic ALS remain controversial, recent developments of novel SOD1 antibodies have made it possible to characterize wild-type SOD1 under pathological conditions of ALS. Here, I have briefly reviewed recent progress on biochemical and immunohistochemical characterization of wild-type SOD1 in sporadic ALS cases and discussed possible involvement of wild-type SOD1 in a pathomechanism of ALS.


2022 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. e202101193
Author(s):  
Megumi Akamatsu ◽  
Takenari Yamashita ◽  
Sayaka Teramoto ◽  
Zhen Huang ◽  
Janet Lynch ◽  
...  

In motor neurons of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, the RNA editing at the glutamine/arginine site of the GluA2 subunit of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptors is defective or incomplete. As a result, AMPA receptors containing the abnormally expressed, unedited isoform of GluA2 are highly Ca2+-permeable, and are responsible for mediating abnormal Ca2+ influx, thereby triggering motor neuron degeneration and cell death. Thus, blocking the AMPA receptor–mediated, abnormal Ca2+ influx is a potential therapeutic strategy for treatment of sporadic ALS. Here, we report a study of the efficacy and safety of two RNA aptamers targeting AMPA receptors on the ALS phenotype of AR2 mice. A 12-wk continuous, intracerebroventricular infusion of aptamers to AR2 mice reduced the progression of motor dysfunction, normalized TDP-43 mislocalization, and prevented death of motor neurons. Our results demonstrate that the use of AMPA receptor aptamers as a novel class of AMPA receptor antagonists is a promising strategy for developing an ALS treatment approach.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (16) ◽  
pp. 2799-2810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-On Wong ◽  
Kartik Venkatachalam

Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron disease that culminates in paralysis and death. Here, we present our analyses of publicly available multiOMIC data sets generated using motor neurons from ALS patients and control cohorts. Functional annotation of differentially expressed genes in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived motor neurons generated from patients with mutations in C9ORF72 (C9-ALS) suggests elevated expression of genes that pertain to extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell adhesion, inflammation and TGFβ targets. On the other end of the continuum, we detected diminished expression of genes repressed by quiescence-promoting E2F4/DREAM complex. Proteins whose abundance was significantly altered in C9-ALS neurons faithfully recapitulated the transcriptional aberrations. Importantly, patterns of gene expression in spinal motor neurons dissected from C9-ALS or sporadic ALS patients were highly concordant with each other and with the C9-ALS iPSC neurons. In contrast, motor neurons from patients with mutations in SOD1 exhibited dramatically different signatures. Elevated expression of gene sets such as ECM and cell adhesion genes occurs in C9 and sporadic ALS but not SOD1-ALS. These analyses indicate that despite the similarities in outward manifestations, transcriptional and proteomic signatures in ALS motor neurons can vary significantly depending on the identity of the causal mutations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. e234504
Author(s):  
Joana Borges Costa ◽  
Diogo Pereira ◽  
Delfim Duarte ◽  
Miguel Viana

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and late-onset fatal neurodegenerative disease characterised by selective death of motor neurons. The aetiology of ALS is still unknown and it is extremely heterogeneous in genetics and clinical presentation, being the respiratory failure the usual cause of death. We describe a case of a 61-year-old male patient referred to the otolaryngology consultation for a 6-month history of progressive solid dysphagia and dysphonia. The patient presented several voice alterations such as a dysarthric speech with hypernasal voice which evoked the hypothesis of a neuromuscular disease. That patient was observed by a neurologist and was submitted to an electromyography that confirmed the ALS diagnosis. This case highlights the key role of otolaryngologists in the diagnosis of ALS, in a way that many patients with a bulbar ALS form are initially studied by an otolaryngologist.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Cheng ◽  
Kan Yang ◽  
Xinwei Wu ◽  
Yuefang Zhang ◽  
Shifang Shan ◽  
...  

SUMMARYAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a late onset neurodegenerative disease with fast progression. Mutations of the CREST gene (also known as SS18L1) are identified in sporadic ALS patients. Whether CREST mutations may lead to ALS remained largely unclear. In this study, we showed that the ALS-related CREST-Q388X mutation exhibited loss-of-function effects. Importantly, we found that microglial activation were prevalent in CREST haploinsufficieny mice and the Q394X mice mimicking the human CREST Q388X mutation. Furthermore, we showed that both CREST haploinsufficieny and the Q394X mice displayed deficits in motor coordination. Finally, we identified the critical role of CREST-BRG1 complex in repressing the expression of immune-related cytokines including Ccl2 and Cxcl10 in neurons, via histone deacetylation, providing the molecular mechanisms underlying inflammatory responses lack of CREST. These findings indicate that elevated inflammatory responses in a subset of ALS may be caused by neuron-derived factors, suggesting potential therapeutic methods through inflammation pathways.In BriefCheng et al. discovered that neuronal loss of CREST reduces the protein level of FUS, de-represses the transcriptional inhibition of chemokine genes which in turn causes microglial activation and proinflammation, and ultimately leads to axonal degeneration of motor neurons and impairment of locomotion.


2019 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 104523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Dachet ◽  
Jiangou Liu ◽  
John Ravits ◽  
Fei Song

2005 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue-Mei Jiang ◽  
Masahiko Yamamoto ◽  
Yasushi Kobayashi ◽  
Tsuyoshi Yoshihara ◽  
Yideng Liang ◽  
...  

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