Type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a progressive neuromuscular disease characterized by an onset at 6 months of age or younger, inability to sit without support, and deficient levels survival motor neuron (SMN) protein. Risdiplam orally administered small molecule that modifies SMN2 pre–messenger RNA splicing increases functional SMN protein in blood.

Autosomal recessive childhood onset spinal muscular atrophy has been mapped to chromosome 5q13. We report the analysis of a polymorphic microsatellite which shows linkage disequilibrium with the disease. The linkage disequilibrium is observed with a null allele which is seen as the non-inheritance of alleles from one or both parents. The inheritance of a null allele was observed in 26 out of 36...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and spinal-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) are devastating diseases characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons. Although the molecular causes underlying these diseases differ, recent findings have highlighted the contribution of intrinsic skeletal muscle defects in motor neuron diseases. The use of cell culture and anima...

INTRODUCTION Disease inclusion in the newborn screening (NBS) panel should consider the opinions of those most affected by the outcome of screening. We assessed the level and factors that affect parent attitudes regarding NBS panel inclusion of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). METHODS The attitudes toward NBS for DMD, BMD, ...

Dysfunction in sensorimotor synapses is one of the earliest pathological changes observed in a mouse model [spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)Δ7] of spinal muscular atrophy. Here, we examined the density of proprioceptive and cholinergic synapses on calbindin-immunoreactive interneurons ventral to the lateral motor column. This population includes inhibitory Renshaw interneurons that are known to re...

INTRODUCTION Spinal muscular atrophies (SMAs) are a group of degenerative diseases primarily affecting the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and motor cells of cranial nerve nuclei. Even if the clinical picture is mainly dominated by the diffuse muscular atrophy, in some cases, patients may show associated, atypical clinical features ("SMA plus"). In particular, the association of SMA and ...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by mutations in the SMN (survival of motor neurons) gene and there is a correlation between disease severity and levels of functional SMN protein. Studies of structure-function relationships in SMN protein may lead to a better understanding of SMA pathogenesis. Self-association of the spinal muscular atrophy protein, SMN, is important for its function in ...

We report a child with clinical findings consistent with Werdnig-Hoffmann disease (spinal muscular atrophy type I) who was found not to have the homozygous absence of the survival motor neurone (SMN(T)) gene observed in approximately 95% of spinal muscular atrophy patients. A quantitative PCR based dosage assay for SMN(T) copy number showed that this patient possessed a single copy of the SMN(T...