Title: Exposure to cerebrospinal fluid of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients alters Nav1.6 and Kv1.6 channel expression in rat spinal motor neurons.

Authors: R Gunasekaran, R Sankara Narayani, K Vijayalakshmi, Phalguni Anand Alladi, K Shobha, A Nalini, T N Sathyaprabha, T R Raju

Journal, date & volume: Brain Res., 2009 Feb 19 , 1255, 170-9

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19109933

Abstract
Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF) from patients with ALS has been documented to have a toxic effect on motor neurons both in vivo and in vitro. Here we show that the CSF from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients (ALS-CSF) has the potential to perturb ion channel expression, specifically the Na(v)1.6, and K(v)1.6 channels in newborn rat spinal motor neurons both in vivo and in vitro. ALS-CSF and CSF from nonALS patients (nonALS-CSF) were intrathecally injected into 3-day-old rat pups at the rate of 1 microl/2.5 min using a microinjector. In addition, embryonic rat spinal cord cultures were also exposed to 10% ALS or nonALS-CSF on the 9th day in vitro (9DIV) in serum free DMEM medium. After 48 h of CSF exposure, the cultures and the spinal cord sections were processed for immunostaining of the above mentioned ion channels. We observed a decrease in the expression of Na(v)1.6 and K(v)1.6 channels in motor neurons in ALS-CSF treated group, and the presence of trophic factors like Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor CNTF partially reversed the effects produced by ALS-CSF. Altered expression of these voltage-gated channels may interfere with the electrical activity of motor neurons, and thereby lead to the degeneration of neurons.