Progressive and selective degeneration of motoneurons in a... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE

Department APSIC, Division of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1, rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

1Molecular Neurogenetics Laboratory, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), E-0223 Université d'Evry, Genopole, Evry, France

CACorresponding Author: [email protected]

Received 1 October 2003; accepted 23 October 2003

Abstract

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by the degeneration of motoneurons of the spinal cord and brainstem, results from loss-of-function mutations in the survival motor neuron gene (smn). The goal of these experiments was to analyse axons and cell bodies of motoneurons in different regions of the CNS during disease progression in a mouse model of SMA carrying a deletion of the exon 7 directed to neurons. These experiments demonstrate a progressive loss of motor axons and of motoneurons in the CNS. This is the first study that describes a selective neurodegeneration in this line of mice and underlines the importance of exon 7 in some populations of motoneurons for survival in vivo.