RET-like immunostaining of spinal motoneurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

R. M. Duberley, I. P. Johnson*, J. E. Martin, P. Anand

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The receptor tyrosine kinase RET is part of a functional receptor for glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and neurturin (NTN) which are potent neurotrophic factors for motoneurons. Here, we have studied RET-like immunoreactivity of motoneurons in post-mortem spinal cords of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in controls. We report that the intensity of RET-like immunostaining of motoneurons in ALS is decreased significantly to 81% of control values. Despite this change, the proportion of all large (> 40 μm diameter) motoneurons showing RET-like immunoreactivity in ALS remains high (82-85%) and is not significantly different to controls. The persistence of RET-like immunoreactivity in the majority of large motoneurons in ALS could be important in the design of clinical trials of GDNF and NTN.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)351-354
Number of pages4
JournalBrain Research
Volume789
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Apr 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • GDNF receptor
  • Immunocytochemistry
  • RET
  • Spinal motoneuron

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