title: Primary structure of GAP-43 mRNA expressed in the spinal cord of ALS patients.
abstract: Recent evidence suggests that the growth associated protein GAP-43 is involved in the pathology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In order to assess the primary structure of the GAP-43 mRNA expressed in the spinal cord of ALS patients, the total coding region of the GAP-43 mRNA was amplified from postmortem human spinal cord specimens using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. GAP-43 amplification products were clearly detected in all of the ALS cases but not in the normal controls. The GAP-43 mRNA and the deduced amino acid sequences from all ALS cases coincided completely with the sequence of human fetal GAP-43. These results suggest that the abnormal expression of GAP-43 mRNA underlying the pathogenesis of ALS is due to a quantitative increase, and that there are no qualitative abnormalities associated with a change in the amino acid sequences.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Neurobiology, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kage
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ikemoto
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Akiguchi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tooyama
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D019922:GAP-43 Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D012016:Reference Values; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019922:GAP-43 Protein; D012333:RNA, Messenger