Motorneurone disease (MND) – possible etiological factors

This condition disease arises from progressive injury and cell death of motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain stem, and usually also the upper motor neurons in the motor cortex. About 10% have been identified as familial in origin and of a suspected genetic basis, usually with an autosomal dominant mechanism of inheritance. The large majority (90%) appear sporadic, with an incidence (eg in the UK) of 1-2 per 100,000. Clinical variants may affect either just the lower MN’s (progressive muscular atrophy) or the upper MN’s (primary lateral sclerosis). It is apparent that the pathology in the nervous system is not confined to the motor neurons, but they are the neurons which are the earliest and most severely affected.