Preprint Highlight: Disruption of lactate metabolism in the peripheral nervous system leads to motor selective deficits.

Abstract

While the role of the lactate shuttle from glia to neurons in the central nervous system has been associated with neurodegenerative disease, the role of this shuttle from Schwann cells to peripheral neurons during nerve degeneration remains unknown. Here the authors report that deletion of lactate dehydrogenase, the enzyme that catalyzes the interconversion between pyruvate and lactate in motor neurons or Schwann cells, causes progressive motor neuron axon degeneration. However, sensory neurons remain unaffected. The role of lactate dehydrogenase in motor neuron degeneration presents a novel target for rescuing metabolic dysfunction in motor-dominated neuropathies such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.