Measurement of neuropeptides in the brain and spinal cord of Wobbler mouse: a model for motoneuron disease.

The Wobbler mouse (wr) exhibits the loss of motoneurons especially in the cervical spinal cord, and thus has been studied as a model for human motoneuron diseases. Wobbler mice selected at various ages and stages during the disease process show increased levels of thyrotropin releasing hormone and substance P in spinal cord and brainstem (medulla). Enkephalins (methionine and leucine) also increase in the spinal cord and brainstem. Somatostatin increases in hypothalamus, perhaps accounting partly for the small size of this mutant mouse via its effect on growth hormone.