Transgenic mice carrying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-linked superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) mutations develop a motoneuron disease resembling human ALS. c-Jun is a transcription factor frequently induced in injured neurons. In this study we have examined the distribution of c-Jun-immunoreactivity in the brainstem and spinal cord of transgenic SOD1 mice with a glycine 93 alanine (G93A) mutation. In non-transgenic littermates c-Jun immunostaining was predominantly situated in motoneurons. The number of c-Jun immunoreactive motoneuron was reduced in SOD1(G93A) mice due to pronounced loss of motoneurons. In SOD1(G93A) mice, however, c-Jun-immunoreactivity was strongly induced in neurons in the intermediate zone (Rexed's laminae V-VIII and X) of the spinal cord and throughout the brainstem reticular formation. These findings are of interest since increased levels of c-jun also have been found in the intermediate zone of the spinal cord of ALS patients. Thus c-Jun may be involved in the neurodegenerative processes both in ALS and in motoneuron disease in SOD1(G93A) mice.

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doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3940(96)13202-X, hdl.handle.net/1765/64087
Neuroscience Letters
Department of Neuroscience

Jaarsma, D., Holstege, J., Troost, D., Davis, M., Kennis, J., Haasdijk, E., & de Jong, V. (1996). Induction of c-Jun immunoreactivity in spinal cord and brainstem neurons in a transgenic mouse model for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neuroscience Letters, 219(3), 179–182. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(96)13202-X