Lysosomal and phagocytic activity is increased in astrocytes during the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The aim of the present study is to combine LCM and microarray analysis to study how astrocytes in the spinal cord of transgenic SOD1 G93A mice and their non-transgenic (NTg) littermates respond to stimuli determined by the presence of the human mutant protein throughout the evolution of the disease by looking at the symptomatic and late-stage disease time points. Astrocytes have been isolated from the spinal cord of G93A mice and non transgenic littermates at different time points and the transcription expression profile of the isolated astrocytes has been analysed