Anand P, Parrett A, Martin J, Zeman S, Foley P, Swash M, Leigh P N, Cedarbaum J M, Lindsay R M, Williams-Chestnut R E
Department of Neurology, London Hospital Medical College, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, UK.
Nat Med. 1995 Feb;1(2):168-72. doi: 10.1038/nm0295-168.
Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) rescues motor neurons in animal models of injury and neurodegeneration, and disruption of the mouse CNTF gene results in motor neuron degeneration in mature adults. Glial cells increase nerve growth factor (NGF) expression in neuropathological conditions, and the sensory system can be affected in the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) type of motor neuronic disease. We therefore studied CNTF and NGF levels in post mortem spinal cord and cerebral cortex from patients with ALS and matched controls. We report a marked decrease of CNTF in the ventral horn of spinal cord in ALS, with no change in cerebral motor cortex. In contrast, NGF levels were decreased in ALS cerebral motor cortex, where the corticospinal tract originates, but increased in the lateral column of spinal cord, which includes the region of corticospinal tract degeneration in ALS. Both CNTF and NGF levels were decreased in ALS dorsal spinal cord.
睫状神经营养因子（CNTF）可在损伤和神经退行性变的动物模型中挽救运动神经元，而小鼠CNTF基因的破坏会导致成年小鼠运动神经元变性。在神经病理状态下，胶质细胞会增加神经生长因子（NGF）的表达，并且感觉系统可能会在肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）这种运动神经元疾病中受到影响。因此，我们研究了ALS患者及匹配对照者死后脊髓和大脑皮质中CNTF和NGF的水平。我们报告称，ALS患者脊髓腹角中的CNTF显著降低，而大脑运动皮质中无变化。相比之下，NGF水平在ALS大脑运动皮质（皮质脊髓束起源处）降低，但在脊髓外侧柱升高，脊髓外侧柱包括ALS中皮质脊髓束发生变性的区域。ALS患者脊髓背侧的CNTF和NGF水平均降低。
