Targeted disruption of the Mast syndrome gene SPG21 in mice impairs hind limb function and alters axon branching in cultured cortical neurons.
Mast syndrome (SPG21) is a childhood-onset, autosomal recessive, complicated form of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) characterized by dementia, thin corpus callosum, white matter abnormalities, and cerebellar and extrapyramidal signs in addition to spastic paraparesis. A nucleotide insertion resulting in premature truncation of the SPG21 gene product maspardin underlies this disorder, likely leading to loss of protein function. In this study, we generated SPG21-/- knockout mice by homologous recombination as a possible animal model for SPG21. Though SPG21-/- mice appeared normal at birth, within several months they developed gradually progressive hind limb dysfunction. Cerebral cortical neurons cultured from SPG21-/- mice exhibited significantly more axonal branching than neurons from wild-type animals, while comprehensive neuropathological analysis of SPG21-/- mice did not reveal definitive abnormalities. Since alterations in axon branching have been seen in neurons derived from animal models of other forms of HSP as well as motor neuron diseases, this may represent a common cellular pathogenic theme.
Soderblom
Cynthia
C
National Institutes of Health-Karolinska Institutet Graduate Partnerships Program, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
Stadler
Julia
J
Jupille
Henri
H
Blackstone
Craig
C
Shupliakov
Oleg
O
Hanna
Michael C
MC
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005121:Extremities / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013577:Syndrome; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000090802:rab7 GTP-Binding Proteins
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C555024:Spg21 protein, mouse; D000090802:rab7 GTP-Binding Proteins; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins