title: Ultrastructural evidence of neurofilament involvement in immune-mediated motor neuron injury.
abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurological disorder. A pathologic hallmark of ALS is accumulation of neurofilaments in proximal axons of affected motor neurones. As the neurofilaments involved in immune-mediated spinal cord ventral horn motor neuron degeneration and loss, we developed immune-mediated motor neuron injury animal model by inoculating Lewis rats with swine spinal cord homogenate and investigated the ultrastructural features of neurofilament accumulation using transmission electron microscopy. Our results showed that there was aberrant accumulation of neurofilaments in perikarya and processes of remaining motor neurons in recipient animals, which is similar to those observed in ALS patients. These findings suggest that immune-mediated motor neuron injury may share a common pathogenesis with ALS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, 215 He-Ping West Road, Shijiazhuang, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yan-Su
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shu-Yu
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Dong-Xia
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chun-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D016472:Motor Neuron Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013552:Swine; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; D014020:Tissue Extracts