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- Awano, Tomoyuki, et al.
(author)
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Genome-wide association analysis reveals a SOD1 mutation in canine degenerative myelopathy that resembles amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- 2009
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 106:8, s. 2794-2799
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease prevalent in several dog breeds. Typically, the initial progressive upper motor neuron spastic and general proprioceptive ataxia in the pelvic limbs occurs at 8 years of age or older. If euthanasia is delayed, the clinical signs will ascend, causing flaccid tetraparesis and other lower motor neuron signs. DNA samples from 38 DM-affected Pembroke Welsh corgi cases and 17 related clinically normal controls were used for genome-wide association mapping, which produced the strongest associations with markers on CFA31 in a region containing the canine SOD1 gene. SOD1 was considered a regional candidate gene because mutations in human SOD1 can cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an adult-onset fatal paralytic neurodegenerative disease with both upper and lower motor neuron involvement. The resequencing of SOD1 in normal and affected dogs revealed a G to A transition, resulting in an E40K missense mutation. Homozygosity for the A allele was associated with DM in 5 dog breeds: Pembroke Welsh corgi, Boxer, Rhodesian ridgeback, German Shepherd dog, and Chesapeake Bay retriever. Microscopic examination of spinal cords from affected dogs revealed myelin and axon loss affecting the lateral white matter and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions that bind anti-superoxide dismutase 1 antibodies. These inclusions are similar to those seen in spinal cord sections from ALS patients with SOD1 mutations. Our findings identify canine DM to be the first recognized spontaneously occurring animal model for ALS.
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2. |
- Jones, Andrew M., et al.
(author)
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‘Priming’ exercise and O2 uptake kinetics during treadmill running
- 2008
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In: Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1569-9048 .- 1878-1519. ; 161:2, s. 182-188
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We tested the hypothesis that priming exercise would speed V˙O2 kinetics during treadmill running. Eight subjects completed a square-wave protocol, involving two bouts of treadmill running at 70% of the difference between the running speeds at lactate threshold (LT) and V˙O2 max, separated by 6-min of walking at 4 km h−1, on two occasions. Oxygen uptake was measured breath-by-breath and subsequently modelled using non-linear regression techniques. Heart rate and blood lactate concentration were significantly elevated prior to the second exercise bout compared to the first. However, V˙O2 kinetics was not significantly different between the first and second exercise bouts (mean ± S.D., phase II time constant, Bout 1: 16 ± 3 s vs. Bout 2: 16 ± 4 s; V˙O2 slow component amplitude, Bout 1: 0.24 ± 0.10 L min−1 vs. Bout 2: 0.20 ± 0.12 L min−1; mean response time, Bout 1: 34 ± 4 s vs. Bout 2: 34 ± 6 s; P > 0.05 for all comparisons). These results indicate that, contrary to previous findings with other exercise modalities, priming exercise does not alter V˙O2 kinetics during high-intensity treadmill running, at least in physically active young subjects. We speculate that the relatively fast V˙O2 kinetics and the relatively small V˙O2 slow component in the control (‘un-primed’) condition negated any enhancement of V˙O2 kinetics by priming exercise in this exercise modality.
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