Relationship between neuropathology and disease progression in the SOD1G93A ALS mouse

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive loss of upper and lower motor neurons. However, recent reports suggest an active role of non-neuronal cells in the pathogenesis of the disease. Here, we examined quantitatively the temporal development of neuropathologic features in the brain and spinal cord of a mouse model of ALS (SOD1G93A). Four phases of the disease were studied in both male and female SOD1G93A mice: presymptomatic (PRE-SYM), symptomatic (SYM), endstage (ES) and moribund (MB). Compared to their control littermates, SOD1G93A mice showed an increase in astrogliosis in the motor cortex, spinal cord and motor trigeminal nucleus in the SYM phase that worsened progressively in ES and MB animals. Associated with this increase in astrogliosis was a concomitant increase in motor neuron cell death in the spinal cord and motor trigeminal nucleus in both ES and MB mice, as well as in the ventrolateral thalamus in MB animals. In contrast, microglial activation was significantly increased in all the same regions but only when the mice were in the MB phase. These results suggest that astrogliosis preceded or occurred concurrently with neuronal degeneration whereas prominent microgliosis was evident later (MB stage), after significant motor neuron degeneration had occurred. Hence, our findings support a role for astrocytes in modulating the progression of non-cell autonomous degeneration of motor neurons, with microglia playing a role in clearing degenerating neurons.

Research Highlights
► Astrogliosis precedes neuronal degeneration in SOD1G93A mouse CNS
► Significant neuronal degeneration precedes significant microgliosis in SOD1G93A mouse
► Astrogliosis increases with and plays a role in disease progression
► Significant microgliosis follows astrogliosis in the spinal cord of SOD1G93A mouse