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White MA, Lin Z, Kim E, Henstridge CM, Pena Altamira E, Hunt CK, Burchill E, Callaghan I, Loreto A, Brown-Wright H, Mead R, Simmons C, Cash D, Coleman MP, Sreedharan J. Sarm1 deletion suppresses TDP-43-linked motor neuron degeneration and cortical spine loss. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2019; 7:166. [PMID: 31661035 PMCID: PMC6819591 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-019-0800-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 08/30/2019] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative condition that primarily affects the motor system and shares many features with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Evidence suggests that ALS is a 'dying-back' disease, with peripheral denervation and axonal degeneration occurring before loss of motor neuron cell bodies. Distal to a nerve injury, a similar pattern of axonal degeneration can be seen, which is mediated by an active axon destruction mechanism called Wallerian degeneration. Sterile alpha and TIR motif-containing 1 (Sarm1) is a key gene in the Wallerian pathway and its deletion provides long-term protection against both Wallerian degeneration and Wallerian-like, non-injury induced axonopathy, a retrograde degenerative process that occurs in many neurodegenerative diseases where axonal transport is impaired. Here, we explored whether Sarm1 signalling could be a therapeutic target for ALS by deleting Sarm1 from a mouse model of ALS-FTD, a TDP-43Q331K, YFP-H double transgenic mouse. Sarm1 deletion attenuated motor axon degeneration and neuromuscular junction denervation. Motor neuron cell bodies were also significantly protected. Deletion of Sarm1 also attenuated loss of layer V pyramidal neuronal dendritic spines in the primary motor cortex. Structural MRI identified the entorhinal cortex as the most significantly atrophic region, and histological studies confirmed a greater loss of neurons in the entorhinal cortex than in the motor cortex, suggesting a prominent FTD-like pattern of neurodegeneration in this transgenic mouse model. Despite the reduction in neuronal degeneration, Sarm1 deletion did not attenuate age-related behavioural deficits caused by TDP-43Q331K. However, Sarm1 deletion was associated with a significant increase in the viability of male TDP-43Q331K mice, suggesting a detrimental role of Wallerian-like pathways in the earliest stages of TDP-43Q331K-mediated neurodegeneration. Collectively, these results indicate that anti-SARM1 strategies have therapeutic potential in ALS-FTD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A White
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
| | - Ziqiang Lin
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
- West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Eugene Kim
- BRAIN Centre (Biomarker Research And Imaging for Neuroscience), Department of Neuroimaging, IoPPN, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Emiliano Pena Altamira
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
| | - Camille K Hunt
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
| | - Ella Burchill
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
| | - Isobel Callaghan
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
| | - Andrea Loreto
- John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Heledd Brown-Wright
- Department of Neuroscience, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Richard Mead
- Department of Neuroscience, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Camilla Simmons
- BRAIN Centre (Biomarker Research And Imaging for Neuroscience), Department of Neuroimaging, IoPPN, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Diana Cash
- BRAIN Centre (Biomarker Research And Imaging for Neuroscience), Department of Neuroimaging, IoPPN, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Michael P Coleman
- John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Signalling Programme, Babraham Institute, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jemeen Sreedharan
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK.
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