| First Author | Puttaparthi K | Year | 2002 |
| Journal | J Neurosci | Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 20 | Pages | 8790-6 |
| PubMed ID | 12388585 | Mgi Jnum | J:79760 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2388897 | Doi | 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-20-08790.2002 |
| Citation | Puttaparthi K, et al. (2002) Disease progression in a transgenic model of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is dependent on both neuronal and non-neuronal zinc binding proteins. J Neurosci 22(20):8790-6 |
| abstractText | Mutations in the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) gene cause one form of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive disorder of motor neurons leading to weakness and death of affected individuals. Experiments using both transgenic mice expressing mutant SOD1 and SOD1 knock-out mice have demonstrated that disease is caused by a toxic gain of function and not by a loss of normal SOD1 activity. Precise mechanisms underlying mutant SOD1 toxicity are unclear but may involve abnormal interactions between zinc and SOD1. The metallothioneins (MTs) represent a family of zinc binding proteins that can function as zinc chaperones for apo-SOD1 in vitro. We hypothesized that manipulation of metallothioneins in vivo might alter the disease phenotype of transgenic mice expressing G93A SOD1 and therefore crossed this line with MT-I and MT-II or MT-III knock-out mice. G93A SOD1 mice deficient of either MT-I and MT-II or MT-III exhibited significant reductions in survival compared with G93A SOD1 mice. In addition, motor dysfunction was markedly accelerated in G93A SOD1 mice deficient in metallothioneins with regard to onset (MT-I and MT-II) or progression (MT-III). These results indicate that the disease course in G93A SOD1 mice is dependent on levels of metallothionein expression. Because MT-I and MT-II are expressed in glia whereas MT-III is found in neurons, these results also indicate that primary changes within non-neuronal cells can affect mutant SOD1-induced disease and do so in ways distinct from primary neuronal changes. |
