Bertel O, Malessa S, Sluga E, Hornykiewicz O
Institute of Biochemical Pharmacology, University of Vienna, Austria.
Brain Res. 1991 Dec 6;566(1-2):54-60. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(91)91680-y.
Noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were measured in discrete subdivisions of cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal cord segments obtained at autopsy of 4 subjects with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 7 control patients. NA concentrations in thoracic and lumbar spinal cord of ALS patients were 2- to 4-fold higher compared with values obtained in control patients. 5-HT levels were unchanged at the cervical and thoracic level and slightly above normal in lumbar spinal cord, while the concentration of 5-HIAA was lowered in cervical and thoracic, but within the control range, in lumbar spinal cord. As a result, the molar ratios of 5-HT/5-HIAA were increased at all spinal levels in ALS. No difference in spinal DA concentration was found between ALS and control patients. The changes in the noradrenergic and serotonergic transmitter systems reported here most probably reflect a decreased release of these transmitter substances in ALS spinal cord. Since lack of the facilitatory monoaminergic influence would necessitate an increase in the excitatory, potentially neurotoxic glutamatergic input onto the motoneurones, we hypothesize that this could contribute to the progressive loss of spinal motoneurones in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
在对4例肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）患者和7例对照患者进行尸检时，获取了颈段、胸段和腰段脊髓节段的离散亚区，并对去甲肾上腺素（NA）、多巴胺（DA）、血清素（5-羟色胺，5-HT）和5-羟吲哚乙酸（5-HIAA）进行了测量。与对照患者相比，ALS患者胸段和腰段脊髓中的NA浓度高出2至4倍。颈段和胸段的5-HT水平未发生变化，腰段脊髓中的5-HT水平略高于正常水平，而颈段和胸段脊髓中5-HIAA的浓度降低，但腰段脊髓中的5-HIAA浓度在对照范围内。因此，ALS患者所有脊髓节段的5-HT/5-HIAA摩尔比均升高。未发现ALS患者和对照患者脊髓DA浓度存在差异。本文报道的去甲肾上腺素能和血清素能递质系统的变化很可能反映了ALS脊髓中这些递质物质的释放减少。由于缺乏促进性单胺能影响将需要增加运动神经元上兴奋性、潜在神经毒性的谷氨酸能输入，我们推测这可能导致肌萎缩侧索硬化症中脊髓运动神经元的进行性丧失。
