title: Assessing disease onset and progression in the SOD1 mouse model of ALS.
abstract: SOD1 transgenic mice are the most widely used animal model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition to providing valuable insights into the pathogenesis of ALS, these animals are used intensively in many laboratories as an in vivo model for investigating novel therapeutic interventions towards this devastating motorneuron disease. Such pre-clinical studies require objective and reliable quantification of the clinical phenotype of individual mice, most importantly of the neuromuscular abnormalities. Here we compare four parameters of the clinical phenotype: motor signs, body weight, rotarod performance and paw grip endurance for their usefulness in monitoring the SOD1 mouse model. We found that paw grip endurance is a sensitive and inexpensive alternative to the widely used rotarod test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Washington, PO Box 356465, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. weydt@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Weydt
authors.forename: So Yon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kliot
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Möller
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C109415:SOD1 G93A protein; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase