Duberley R M, Johnson I P, Martin J E, Anand P
Department of Neurology, Saint Bartholomew's and The Royal London Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, London E1 1BB, UK.
Brain Res. 1998 Apr 13;789(2):351-4. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(97)01570-9.
The receptor tyrosine kinase RET is part of a functional receptor for glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and neurturin (NTN) which are potent neurotrophic factors for motoneurons. Here, we have studied RET-like immunoreactivity of motoneurons in post-mortem spinal cords of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in controls. We report that the intensity of RET-like immunostaining of motoneurons in ALS is decreased significantly to 81% of control values. Despite this change, the proportion of all large (>40 micron diameter) motoneurons showing RET-like immunoreactivity in ALS remains high (82-85%) and is not significantly different to controls. The persistence of RET-like immunoreactivity in the majority of large motoneurons in ALS could be important in the design of clinical trials of GDNF and NTN.
受体酪氨酸激酶RET是胶质细胞源性神经营养因子（GDNF）和神经营养素（NTN）功能性受体的一部分，这两种因子是运动神经元的有效神经营养因子。在此，我们研究了肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）患者死后脊髓和对照组中运动神经元的RET样免疫反应性。我们报告，ALS中运动神经元的RET样免疫染色强度显著降低至对照值的81%。尽管有这种变化，但在ALS中显示RET样免疫反应性的所有大（直径>40微米）运动神经元的比例仍然很高（82-85%），与对照组无显著差异。ALS中大多数大运动神经元中RET样免疫反应性的持续存在可能对GDNF和NTN的临床试验设计很重要。
