Week 8 part 2 Flashcards
What are major neurodegenerative disease?
- Alzheimers
- Parkinson
- Triplet repeat disease (Huntington and spino-cerebellar ataxias)
- Spinal muscular atrophy
- ALS/FTD (frontotemporal dementia)
What does major neurodegenerative disorders affect?
More than 25 million people worldwide
What does major neurodegenerative disorders bring?
Disproprionate amount of suffering and economic loss
Prion disease
Location: diffuse cortical
Macro: cerebral atrophy
Micro: Spongiosis, PrP deposits
AD
Location: temporoparietal
Macro: cerebral atrophy
Micro: AB plaques, tangles
PD
Location: midbrain
Macro: pallor of substantia nigra
Micro: Lewy bodies
ALS
Location: motor cortex, brain stem and spinal cord
Macro: atrophy of motor neurons and muscles
Micro: Inclusions (Bunina bodies, Lewy body-like)
HD
Location: Basal Ganglia
Macro: Neostratial atrophy
Micro: neuronal loss and astrocytosis
LBD
Location: frontrotemporal
Macro: cerebral atrophy
Micro: Lewy bodies
FTD
Location: Frontotemporal
Macro: cerebral atrophy
Micro: tau deposits, Pick bodies
What are some features of Neurodegenerative diseases?
- Most strike at mid-life or later
- Aging may contribute to susceptibility
- The first symptoms usually involve loss of fine motor movement control
- Duration can be 10-20 years with progressive deterioration and quite a helpless, terrible death
What are the two caterogies of Neurodegenerative diseases?
- Sporadic (unknown ateiology, most of Alzheimers and Parkinson)
- Inherited (Huntington
What are most neurodegenerative disorders characterised by?
Presence of insoluble protein aggregates
What is one of the causes of neurodegenerative disease?
- protein misfolding
2. The inability of the body/cells to properly fold and/or dispose of misfolded protein accumulations
What happens in Parkinson’s patients?
Alpha-synuclein form clumps known as Lewy bodies
What happens in Alzheimer’s disease
sees tau tangles form inside brain cells and amyloid plaques accumulate near them
What happens in Huntington’s?
the nucleus becomes gummed up with clusters formed by an abnormal version of the huntingtin protein
What happens in ALS?
The proteins superoxide dismutase (SOD) and TDP43 or FUS accumulate in the body and projections of nerve cells
What are animal models to study neurodegenerative diseases?
- Transgenic mouse models
- Drosophila
- C. Elegans
What do lots of transgenic animals mimick?
A lot of human mutations
study some mechanisms
C. Elegan worm
- Short half life span
- Quick generation time
- Study the effects quicker
- Ask questions about aging better than mouse
What are the most common pathologies in the family of MND (motor neuron diseases)?
- SMA (spinal muscle atrophy)
2. ALS
What are SMA and ALS characterised by?
Progressive degeneration of motor neurons in the anterior horns of the spinal cord
What are the incidence of SMA and ALS?
- SMA - 1/6000-10000 newborns
2. ALS - 1-2 people/10,000 (Age of onset ca 50 years)
What varies between SMA and ALS?
- Disease onset
- Genetic causes
- Affected neurons
What is the most common genetic cause of infant mortality?
Proximal SMA
What is SMA caused by?
95% of the patients
deletions of SMN1 gene
the remaining 5% carry small mutation in this gene
What are the differences between SMN1 and SMN2?
When SMN1 is made it encodes a functional SMN and degrades very quickly
The way the genes are spliced
what they encode as a result of this alternative splicing
What happens if SMN1 is mutated or lost?
SMN2 cannot compensate for it because its not functional/processed in the right way
What does functional SMN1 when it is spliced together incorporate?
Exon 7 that gives the function of the protein
SMN2
It is spliced out generating a fusion between exon 6 + 8
This gene is non-functional
Why doesnt SMN1 never sit independently?
The muscle tone never develops
What does SMN1 die from?
Respiratory defect
The motor innervation doesn work so they cant breathe
SMA1 Werdnig-Hoffman disease
Age of onset: Antenatal-before 6 months
Maximum motor milestones: Never sits independently
Other features: Flkoppy child, no control of head movements, normal facial expression, swallowing difficulty, paradoxal breathing, Fasciculation of tongue
Life expectancy: median survival of < 6 months
Death from respiratory insufficiency
SMA2 intermediate type
Age of onset: 7-18 minths
Maximum motor milestones: sits independently, never walks independently
Other featurs: Scoliosis, joint contractutes, Postural tremors of hands, Fasciculation of tongue and/or limb muscles
Life expectancy: most patients die < age 30-40 from respiraotry insufficiency, some survive longer
SMA3 Kugelberg Welander disease
Age of onset: 18 month- 30 year
Maximum motor milestones: Walks independently , some patients become wheelchair dependent in childhood
Other featureS: Joint contractures, postural tremors of the hands
Fasciculation of limb muscles
some patients require NIV
Life expectancy: normal
SMA4 Adult-onsent (very rare)
Age of onset: 30 year
Maximum motor milestones: Normal
Other features: patient can become wheelchair dependent
some patients require NIV
Life expectancy: normal