title: Cerebrospinal fluid from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients causes fragmentation of the Golgi apparatus in the neonatal rat spinal cord.
abstract: We have previously shown in our laboratory that cerebrospinal fluid from ALS patients (ALS-CSF) contains putative toxic factor(s). In the present study we determined the effect of ALS-CSF on the integrity of the Golgi apparatus of spinal motor neurons in the neonatal rats. CSF was injected intrathecally into three-day-old rat pups and subsequently the ultrastructural changes in the motor neurons were studied after 48 h, 1, 2 and 3 weeks. We observed that ALS-CSF causes fragmentation of the Golgi apparatus in a considerable number of motor neurons in the spinal cord. This was further confirmed when motor neurons were stained with an antibody against a medial Golgi protein (MG160). Thus, we suggest that the putative toxin(s) present in ALS-CSF may cause impairment in the protein processing leading to motor neuron death.
authors: Department of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India.
authors: Priti Y
authors: PY
authors: Ramamohan
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Gourie-Devi
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Nalini
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Shobha
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Ramamohan
authors: Preeti
authors: P
authors: Joshi
authors: T R
authors: TR
authors: Raju
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006056:Golgi Apparatus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007278:Injections, Spinal; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins