Project description:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder primarily characterized by motor neuron degeneration with additional involvement of non-neuronal cells, in particular, microglia. In our previous work, we have established protocols for the differentiation of iPSC-derived spinal motor neurons and microglia. Here, we combine both cell lineages and establish a novel co-culture of iPSC-derived motor neurons and microglia, which is compatible with motor neuron identity and function. Co-cultured microglia express key microglial markers and transcriptomically resemble primary human microglia, have highly dynamic ramifications, are phagocytic, release various cytokines and respond to stimulation. Further, they express key amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-associated genes and release disease-relevant biomarkers. This novel and authentic human model system facilitates the study of physiological motor neuron-microglia crosstalk and permits the investigation of non-cell-autonomous phenotypes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Project description:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a lethal motor neuron disease that progressively debilitates neuronal cells that control voluntary muscle activity. In a mouse model of ALS that expresses mutated human superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1-G93A) skeletal muscle is one of the tissues affected early by mutant SOD1 toxicity. Fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles are differentially affected in ALS patients and in the SOD1-G93A model, fast-twitch muscles being more vulnerable. We used miRNA microarrays to investigate miRNA alterations in fast-twitch (EDL) and slow-twitch (soleus) skeletal muscles of symptomatic SOD1-G93A animals and their age-matched wild type littermates. At age of 90 days RNA was extracted from extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and soleus (SOL) muscles of male SOD1-G93A animals and their age-matched wild type male littermates. RNA was hybridized on Affymetrix Multispecies miRNA-2_0 Array.
Project description:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis are two syndromic variants within the motor neurone disease spectrum. Whilst primary lateral sclerosis is associated with loss of upper motor neurons and a more benign disease course up to 17yrs, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is caused by loss of both upper and lower motor neurons and has an average disease course of 2-3 years. The majority of cases are sporadic, thereby limiting the availability of cellular models for investigating pathogenic disease mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to evaluate fibroblasts as a cellular model for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis, to establish whether disease-related dysregulated biological processes recapitulate those seen in the central nervous system and to elucidate pathways that distinguish between the two disease phenotypes. We used microarray analysis to determine the differences in gene expression between fibroblasts derived from skin biopsies taken from sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis neurologically normal human controls
Project description:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a lethal motor neuron disease that progressively debilitates neuronal cells that control voluntary muscle activity. In a mouse model of ALS that expresses mutated human superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1-G93A) skeletal muscle is one of the tissues affected early by mutant SOD1 toxicity. Fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles are differentially affected in ALS patients and in the SOD1-G93A model, fast-twitch muscles being more vulnerable. We used miRNA microarrays to investigate miRNA alterations in fast-twitch (EDL) and slow-twitch (soleus) skeletal muscles of symptomatic SOD1-G93A animals and their age-matched wild type littermates.
Project description:Identification of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS) related genes. Material from three hSOD1(G93A) transgenic mice was compared to material from three non-transgenic control mice using an alternating loop design on two-colour cDNA microarrays. Statistical data management and analysis: postgreSQL relational database (www.postgresql.org), Perl, and R (www.r-project.org); pin-wise lowess-regression based normalisation (Yang et al., 2002 [PMID: 11842121]); mixed ANOVA-model. Keywords = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, SOD1 mouse model