Project description:mRNA expression in the spinal cords of the G93A-SOD1 familial ALS transgenic mouse model was compared to that in nontransgenic (Normal mouse) and transgenic mice expressing wild-type (WT)SOD1. Gene Ontology (GO)analysis was used to characterize differences in expression between G93A-SOD1 mouse and nontransgenic mouse spinal cord. Changes in multiple GO categories were found. Many of these were associated with subsystems involving cell-cell communication and intracellular signal transduction. Expression profiles of mice expressing WT-SOD1 did not differ from nontransgenic mice. In contrast, protein profiling using proteomics technology indicated changes in mitochondrial protein expression in the G93A-SOD1 mouse spinal cord that were not found in the mRNA expression analysis. Keywords: Disease state analysis, time course, transgenic mice
Project description:mRNA expression in the spinal cords of the G93A-SOD1 familial ALS transgenic mouse model was compared to that in nontransgenic (Normal mouse) and transgenic mice expressing wild-type (WT)SOD1. Gene Ontology (GO)analysis was used to characterize differences in expression between G93A-SOD1 mouse and nontransgenic mouse spinal cord. Changes in multiple GO categories were found. Many of these were associated with subsystems involving cell-cell communication and intracellular signal transduction. Expression profiles of mice expressing WT-SOD1 did not differ from nontransgenic mice. In contrast, protein profiling using proteomics technology indicated changes in mitochondrial protein expression in the G93A-SOD1 mouse spinal cord that were not found in the mRNA expression analysis.
Project description:Microarray analysis has been applied to the study of ALS in order to investigate gene expression in whole spinal cord homogenates of SOD1 G93A mice and human ALS cases, although the massive presence of glial cells and inflammatory factors has made it difficult to define which gene expression changes were motor neuron specific. Recently, laser capture microdissection (LCM), combined with microarray analysis, has allowed the identification of motor neuron specific changes in gene expression in human ALS cases. The aim of the present study is to combine LCM and microarray analysis to study how motor neurons in the spinal cord of transgenic SOD1 G93A mice and transgenic SOD1 WT respond to stimuli determined by the presence of the human mutant protein throughout the evolution of the stages in motor neuron injury Experiment Overall Design: Motor neurons have been isolated from the spinal cord of G93A mice and non transgenic littermates at different time points and the transcription expression profile of the isolated motor neurons has been analysed
Project description:Microarray analysis has been applied to the study of ALS in order to investigate gene expression in whole spinal cord homogenates of SOD1 G93A mice and human ALS cases, although the massive presence of glial cells and inflammatory factors has made it difficult to define which gene expression changes were motor neuron specific. Recently, laser capture microdissection (LCM), combined with microarray analysis, has allowed the identification of motor neuron specific changes in gene expression in human ALS cases. The aim of the present study is to combine LCM and microarray analysis to study how motor neurons in the spinal cord of transgenic SOD1 G93A mice and transgenic SOD1 WT respond to stimuli determined by the presence of the human mutant protein throughout the evolution of the stages in motor neuron injury Keywords: Murine motor neurons
Project description:We have investigated the process of disease-induced functional perturbation and the related transcriptional changes occurring in thoraco-lumbar spinal cord extracted from Sprague-Dawley rats heterozygous for the G93A SOD1 gene mutation (Emerging Model 2148 Het Male, Taconic USA; Wyeth and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association 2002) using spinal cord from wild type females littermates as reference tissues. Rats were obtained from a breeding project at Taconic Breeding Services (USA). We have applied large-scale gene expression analysis to define the pattern or transcriptional changes occurring in spinal cord from the G93A SOD1 rat model from a pre-symptomatic stage, at disease onset and at end-stage disease, using Bead Array analysis (Illumina, San Diego, USA). We have pooled spinal cord from N:5 transgenic rats for each of the time points considered, using the same pools of spinal cord from sex and age-matched WT rats as reference. In this specific project, the aim was to obtain a gene ontology (GO) pathway analysis of the transcriptional changes induced by the G93A SOD1 mutation in rat spinal cord. Hence, we have opted for a sample pooling strategy, well aware that in so doing, we would not obtaineed information about individuals genes variation across the samples in study but an overall view of the activation of multi-genes molecular signals. Total RNA was isolated from the spinal cords of mutant (G93A SOD1 gene mutation) female rats sacrificed at a pre-symptomatic stage (10-week old), at disease onset and at end stage disease and from age and sex-matched wild type (WT) littermates. RNA samples obtained from spinal cord extracted from rats of the same genetic types and sacrificed at the same time points (e.g. 5 RNA samples from mutant spinal cord from end-stage rats; 5 RNA samples from mutant spinal cord from rats at disease onset; 5 RNA samples from mutant pre-symptomatic rats and 5 RNA samples from spinal cord obtained from age-matched WT rats sacrificed at each of the 3 time points) were pooled and used for gene expression analysis and Ontology analysis of the expression profiles.
Project description:The aim of the present study is to combine LCM and microarray analysis to study how astrocytes in the spinal cord of transgenic SOD1 G93A mice and their non-transgenic (NTg) littermates respond to stimuli determined by the presence of the human mutant protein throughout the evolution of the disease by looking at the symptomatic and late-stage disease time points. Astrocytes have been isolated from the spinal cord of G93A mice and non transgenic littermates at different time points and the transcription expression profile of the isolated astrocytes has been analysed
Project description:Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted by myriad cells in culture and also by unicellular organisms, and their identification in mammalian fluids suggests that EV release also occurs at the organism level. However, although it is clearly important to better understand EVs' roles in organismal biology, EVs in solid tissues have received little attention. Here, we modified a protocol for EV isolation from primary neural cell culture to collect EVs from frozen whole murine and human neural tissues by serial centrifugation and purification on a sucrose gradient. Quantitative proteomics comparing brain-derived EVs from nontransgenic (NTg) and a transgenic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mouse model, superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) G93A , revealed that these EVs contain canonical exosomal markers and are enriched in synaptic and RNA-binding proteins. The compiled brain EV proteome contained numerous proteins implicated in ALS, and EVs from SOD1 G93A mice were significantly depleted in myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein compared with those from NTg animals. We observed that brain- and spinal cord–derived EVs, from NTg and SOD1 G93A mice, are positive for the astrocyte marker GLAST and the synaptic marker SNAP25, whereas CD11b, a microglial marker, was largely absent. EVs from brains and spinal cords of the SOD1 G93A ALS mouse model, as well as from human SOD1 familial ALS patient spinal cord, contained abundant misfolded and nonnative disulfide-cross-linked aggregated SOD1. Our results indicate that CNS-derived EVs from an ALS animal model contain pathogenic disease-causing proteins and suggest that brain astrocytes and neurons, but not microglia, are the main EV source.