The childhood motor neuron disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) results from reduced expression of the survival motor neuron (SMN) gene. Previous studies using in vitro model systems and lower organisms have suggested that low levels of Smn protein disrupt prenatal developmental processes in lower motor neurons, influencing neuronal outgrowth, axon branching and neuromuscular connectivity. The...

Spinal muscular atrophy is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease of childhood, resulting from deletion or mutation of the survival motor neuron ( SMN ) gene on chromosome 5q13. SMN exists as part of a 300 kDa multi-protein complex, incorporating several proteins critically required in pre-mRNA splicing. Although SMN mutations render SMN defective in this role, the specific alpha-moto...

spinal muscular atrophy (sma) is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder characterized by degeneration of spinal cord anterior horn cells, leading to muscular atrophy. sma is clinically classified into three sub-groups based on the age of onset and severity. the majority of patients with sma have homozygous deletions of exons 7 and 8 of the survival motor neuron (smn) gene. the purpose of ...

Introduction: The term motor neuron disease encompasses a spectrum of disorders in which motor neurons are the lost. Importantly, while some motor neurons are lost early in disease and others remain intact at disease end-stage. This creates a valuable experimental paradigm to investigate the factors that regulate motor neuron vulnerability. Spinal muscular atrophy is a childhood motor neuron di...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a devastating childhood motor neuron disease. SMA is caused by mutations in the survival motor neuron gene (SMN1), leading to reduced levels of SMN protein in the CNS. The actin-binding protein plastin 3 (PLS3) has been reported as a modifier for SMA, making it a potential therapeutic target. Here, we show reduced levels of PLS3 protein in the brain and spinal c...

Loss of the survival motor neuron gene (SMN1) is responsible for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the most common inherited cause of infant mortality. Even though the SMA phenotype is traditionally considered as related to spinal motor neuron loss, it remains debated whether the specific targeting of motor neurons could represent the best therapeutic option for the disease. We here investigated, ...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive motor neuron disease. It is the first genetic cause of infant mortality. It is caused by mutations in the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene, leading to the reduction of SMN protein. The most striking component is the loss of alpha motor neurons in the ventral horn of the spinal cord, resulting in progressive paralysis and eventually prem...