Benchmarking for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research with neurobiophysical means

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Event Abstract Back to Event Benchmarking for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research with neurobiophysical means Pavle R. Andjus1* 1 Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Russia Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable devastating neurological disorder affecting upper and lower motoneurons. There are two types, sporadic and familial, they differ in the aetiopathogenesis but have similar symptoms. There is substantial evidence that both types of ALS develop an oxidative stress phase (by extensive glutamate stimulated Ca2+ inflow or by impaired SOD activity) that eventually leads to excitotoxicity. IgGs from ALS patients were suggested as the link between the immune mechanisms and the excitotoxicity hypothesis. This review will present our research on ALS models and its main findings: a) ALS IgGs increased the frequency of sEPSCs in rat hippocampal neurons in culture and of glycine-mediated IPSCs in hypoglossal motoneurons in tissue slices; b) ALS IgGs altered Ca2+ signaling in neuronal/glial cultures; c) live MRI study on the ALS rat model revealed lesions in the brainstem, dilated lateral ventricles and a compromised BBB; d) by using antibodies labeled with paramagnetic nanoparticles MRI mapped the infiltration of immune cells in the ALS rat brain; e) immunocytochemistry revealed reactive astrocytes in the vicinity of dilated lateral ventricles, and microglial activation and interaction with neurons in the hippocampus and brainstem; f) the latter led us back to in vitro studies showing the direct effect of ALS IgGs on vesicle trafficking, release and excitotoxicity in astrocytes. Although the relationship of two forms of ALS is still unclear, our studies point that the common denominator may be a hampered BBB and the reactive function of microglial cells. Conference: 3rd Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience , Alexandria, Egypt, 13 Dec - 16 Dec, 2009. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Citation: Andjus PR (2009). Benchmarking for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research with neurobiophysical means. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 3rd Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience . doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.16.093 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 20 Nov 2009; Published Online: 20 Nov 2009. * Correspondence: Pavle R Andjus, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Belgrade, Russia, pandjus@bio.bg.ac.rs Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Pavle R Andjus Google Pavle R Andjus Google Scholar Pavle R Andjus PubMed Pavle R Andjus Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.