Gene expression profiling of muscles from transgenic humanSODG93A mice at symptomatic stage. Mus musculus

The transgenic mice expressing the human mutated form (G93A) of the SOD1 gene represent a valuable model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). SOD1 is one of the main causative genes of familial ALS which accounts for 10% of cases. These transgenic animals develop a motorneuronal pathology that recapitulates well the neuropatological features occuring in ALS patients, and the progression of the disease can be monitored by a series of motor tests. Gastrocnemius is first and most affected muscle in the disease, while triceps is relatively spared. Gene expression data of degenerating motor neurons at different disease stages are already available, while gene expression data on the muscle tissue are missing. Our aim is to define the role of muscle in motor neuron degeneration in ALS. Keywords: Single stage analysis (early symptomatic stage, 14 weeks-old mice) Overall design: We considered two sets of muscle at symptomatic stage (14 weeks): gastrocnemius and triceps from 4 transgenic SOD1G93A and 4 non-transgenic mice (NTg). Gastrocnemius from 4 nerve-crushed mice were also considered as controls for the denervation process