Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Magnetic Resonance Microscopy and Immunohistochemistry of the CNS of the Mutant SOD Murine Model of ALS Reveals Widespread Neural Deficits

Magnetic Resonance Microscopy and Immunohistochemistry of the CNS of the Mutant SOD Murine Model... Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that primarily affects motor neurons and descending motor tracts of the CNS. We have evaluated the CNS of a murine model of familial ALS based on the over-expression of mutant human superoxide dismutase (mSOD; G93A) using magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Three-dimensional volumetric analysis was performed from 3D T2*-weighted images acquired at 17.6 T at isotropic resolutions of 40 μm. Compared to controls, mSOD mice had significant reductions in the volumes of total brain, substantia nigra, striatum, hippocampus, and internal capsule, with decreased cortical thickness in primary motor and somatosensory cortices. In the spinal cord, mSOD mice had significantly decreased volume of both the total grey and white matter; in the latter case, the volume change was confined to the dorsal white matter. Increased apoptosis, GFAP positive astrocytes, and/or activated microglia were observed in all those CNS regions that showed volume loss except for the hippocampus. The MRM findings in mSOD over-expressing mice are similar to data previously obtained from a model of ALS-parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS-PDC), in which neural damage occurred following a diet of washed cycad flour containing various neurotoxins. The primary difference between the two models involves a significantly greater decrease in spinal cord white matter volume in mSOD mice, perhaps reflecting variations in degeneration of the descending motor tracts. The extent to which several CNS structures are impacted in both murine models of ALS argues for a reevaluation of the nature of the pathogenesis of ALS since CNS structures involved in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases appear to be affected as well. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png NeuroMolecular Medicine Springer Journals

Magnetic Resonance Microscopy and Immunohistochemistry of the CNS of the Mutant SOD Murine Model of ALS Reveals Widespread Neural Deficits

Download PDF
14 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/magnetic-resonance-microscopy-and-immunohistochemistry-of-the-cns-of-HxbZJZEIOu

References (66)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by Humana Press Inc.
Subject
Medicine & Public Health; Internal Medicine ; Neurology ; Medicine/Public Health, general
ISSN
1535-1084
eISSN
1559-1174
DOI
10.1007/s12017-007-8002-1
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that primarily affects motor neurons and descending motor tracts of the CNS. We have evaluated the CNS of a murine model of familial ALS based on the over-expression of mutant human superoxide dismutase (mSOD; G93A) using magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Three-dimensional volumetric analysis was performed from 3D T2*-weighted images acquired at 17.6 T at isotropic resolutions of 40 μm. Compared to controls, mSOD mice had significant reductions in the volumes of total brain, substantia nigra, striatum, hippocampus, and internal capsule, with decreased cortical thickness in primary motor and somatosensory cortices. In the spinal cord, mSOD mice had significantly decreased volume of both the total grey and white matter; in the latter case, the volume change was confined to the dorsal white matter. Increased apoptosis, GFAP positive astrocytes, and/or activated microglia were observed in all those CNS regions that showed volume loss except for the hippocampus. The MRM findings in mSOD over-expressing mice are similar to data previously obtained from a model of ALS-parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS-PDC), in which neural damage occurred following a diet of washed cycad flour containing various neurotoxins. The primary difference between the two models involves a significantly greater decrease in spinal cord white matter volume in mSOD mice, perhaps reflecting variations in degeneration of the descending motor tracts. The extent to which several CNS structures are impacted in both murine models of ALS argues for a reevaluation of the nature of the pathogenesis of ALS since CNS structures involved in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases appear to be affected as well.

Journal

NeuroMolecular Medicine – Springer Journals

Published: Aug 14, 2007

There are no references for this article.