Spinal cord in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

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Engelhardt JI, Tajti J, Appel SH (1993) Lymphocytic mfiltrates in the spinal cord in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Arch Neurol 50 30—36. 

Some studies have found an increase of Cu in serum and CSF and an increase of Mn in the spinal cord in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which suggests that this metal plays a role in the pathogeny of this disease (Kapaki et al., 1997). 

PI 1. Pedersen, W. A., Fu, W., Keller, J. N., Markesbery, W. R., Appel, S., etal., Protein modification by the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal in the spinal cords of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. Ann. Neurol. 44, 819-824 (1998). 

Lim GP, Backstrom JR, Cullen MJ, Miller CA, Atkinson RD, Tokes ZA (1996) Matrix metalloproteinases in the neocorlex and spinal cord of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. J Neurochem 67 251—259. 

Walker MP, Schlaberg R, Hays AP, Bowser R, Lipkin WI (2001) Absence of echovirus sequences in brain and spinal cord of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. Ann Neurol 49 249-253. 

Kihira T, Mukoyama M, Ando K, et al. 1990. Determination of manganese concentrations in the spinal cords from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. J Neurol Sci 98 251-258. 

Another interesting effect of tacrolimus is its ability to induce neurite outgrowth in vitro [42] and nerve regeneration in vivo [90]. Because this effect is shown by rapamycin as well, which does not inhibit calcineurin, participation of FKBP, but not calcineurin, seems to be important in the neiuotrophic action of tacrolimus. A beneficial role for tacrolimus in a variety of neurological diseases in addition to stroke such as diabetic neuropathy, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer s disease, and Parkinson s disease have been suggested [43]. 

Malaspina A, Kaushik N, de Belleroche J. Differential expression of 14 genes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis spinal cord detected using gridded cDNA arrays. J Neurochem 2001 77(1) 132-145. 

Henkel IS, Engelhardt Jl, Siklos L, Simpson EP, Kim SH, Pan T, Goodman JC, Siddique T, Beers DR, Appel SH (2004) Presence of dendritic cells, MCP-1, and activated microglia/macrophages in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis spinal cord tissue. Ann Neurol 55 221-235. 

Kawamata T, Akiyama H, Yamada T, McGeer PL (1992) Immunologic reactions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis brain and spinal cord tissue. Am J Pathol 140 691-707. 

Graves MC, Fiala M, Dinglasan LA, Liu NQ, Sayre J, Chiappelli F, van Kooten C, Vinters HV (2004) Inflammation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis spinal cord and brain is mediated by activated macrophages, mast cells and T cells. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Other Motor Neuron Disord 5 213-219. 

Spinal cord motoneurons express p75 and pl45 rkB mRNA in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Brain Res. 621 111-115. 

Plaitakis, A, Constantakakis, E. and Smith, J. (1988) The neuroexcitotoxic amino acids glutamate and aspartate are altered in spinal cords and brain in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Ann. Neurol. 24 446-449. 

Zhai J, StrSm AL, Kilty R, Venkatakrishnan P, White J, Everson WV, Smart EJ, Zhu H (2009) Proteomic characterization of lipid raft proteins in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mouse spinal cord. FEBS J 276 3308-3323... 

Baclofen is a GABA agonist at GABA B receptors and it has a presynaptic inhibitory function by reducing calcium influx. Its indication is increased extensor tone and clonus. Intrathecal administration may control severe spasticity pain. It is used for the treatment of spastic movement, especially in instances of spinal cord injury, spastic diplegia, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Its central nervous system effects include drowsiness, somnolence and seizure activity in epileptic patients. 

Succinylcholine produces muscle fasciculation, which may result in myoglobinuria and postoperative muscle pain. The amount produced depends on the level of physical fitness. Succinylcholine causes contractions of extraocular muscles, posing the danger of transient elevated intraocular pressure. Succinylcholine may produce hyperkalemia in patients with large masses of traumatized or denervated muscle (e.g., spinal cord injury). Denervated muscle is especially sensitive to depolarizing drugs because of the increased number of AChRs on the sarcolemma (denervation supersensitivity). Succinylcholine also causes prolonged contraction of the diseased muscles of patients with myotonia or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 

Tizanidine o -Adrenoceptor agonist in the spinal cord Presynaptic and postsynaptic inhibition of reflex motor output Spasm due to multiple sclerosis, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Renal and hepatic elimination t duration, 3-6 h Toxicities Weakness, sedation hypotension... 

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