Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neuron disease and Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by loss of specific cells within certain regions of the brain. One of the most compelling questions is to determine why specific cell populations are vulnerable to neurodegeneration. We addressed this question by studying global gene expression changes using an animal model of ...

Respiratory compromise due to phrenic motor neuron loss is a debilitating consequence of a large proportion of human traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) cases (1) and is the ultimate cause of death in patients with the motor neuron disorder, amyotrophic laterals sclerosis (ALS) (2). ALS is a devastating neurological disorder that is characterized by relatively rapid degeneration of upper and low...

OBJECTIVE To describe the clinical and electrophysiologic features of patients with inclusion body myositis that was misinterpreted as motor neuron disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively retrieved the medical records of 70 patients with a pathologic diagnosis of inclusion body myositis. From this group, we selected those who had been first diagnosed as having motor neuron disease or...

abstract objective autosomal recessive spinal muscular atrophy (sma) is, after cystic fibrosis, the second most common fatal monogenic disorder and the second most common hereditary neuromuscular disease after duchenne dystrophy. the disease is characterized by degeneration of anterior horn cells leading to progressive paralysis with muscular atrophy. depending on the clinical type (werdnig- ho...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a degenerative disorder of motor neuron system of the spinal cord and the cortical neuron. Patients with ALS present a unique challenge to the anesthesiologist. Respiratory muscle weakness, for instance, can result in trouble with proper breathing after general anesthesia. We report a case of spinal anesthesia for...

Many genes in which mutations cause motor neuron disorders have been identified, helping to provide early diagnosis or prognosis to patients; but there is still no cure for any of these pathologies. Only symptomatic and supportive therapies can provide better quality of life and may extend survival in the most severe cases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In this issue of Brain, Foley an...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND), is an adult onset neurodegenerative disorder characterised by the degeneration of cortical and spinal cord motor neurons, resulting in progressive muscular weakness and death. Increasing evidence supports mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative DNA damage in ALS motor neurons. Several DNA repair enzymes are activated...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive motor neuron disorder that involves degeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons. In patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, pathologic studies and ex vivo high-resolution MR imaging at ultra-high field strength revealed the co-localization of iron and activated microglia distributed in the deep layers of the prima...

Two 6-week-old female Rottweiler littermates were evaluated for regurgitation, diminished growth, progressive ataxia, and pelvic limb weakness. Clinical examination indicated a progressive, diffuse, lower motor neuron disorder and megaesophagus. The pups were killed at 6 and 8 weeks of age. Lesions included central chromatolysis and swelling of the perikarya in many large motor neurons in the v...

BACKGROUND Spinal muscular atrophy is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by degeneration of anterior horn cells in the spinal cord leading to progressive muscular weakness and atrophy. The spinal muscular atrophy candidate interval genes including survival motor neuron, the responsible gene in spinal muscular atrophy phenotype expression, neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein, and P4...