Kawamoto Y, Nakamura S, Akiguchi I, Kimura J
Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1998 Sep;57(9):822-30. doi: 10.1097/00005072-199809000-00003.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has a trophic effect on several neuronal subtypes including motor neurons. To localize and assess BDNF in the human spinal cord with particular reference to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we immunohistochemically studied spinal cords from 8 ALS and 13 non-ALS patients. Punctate staining for BDNF was observed in neuronal somata and proximal processes of large-sized anterior horn cells of non-ALS patients, as were distal axons immunolabeled in the neuropil. The same immunostaining pattern was found in the anterior horn cells of ALS patients. Neurons of the dorsal nucleus of Clarke, intermediolateral nucleus, and posterior horn sensory system were also stained in both groups. The results suggest that BDNF may act widely as a trophic factor in the human spinal cord, and motor neurons in ALS patients might be sufficiently supplied with endogenous BDNF from other neuronal subpopulations in the spinal cord.
脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）对包括运动神经元在内的多种神经元亚型具有营养作用。为了定位和评估人脊髓中的BDNF，特别是针对肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS），我们对8例ALS患者和13例非ALS患者的脊髓进行了免疫组织化学研究。在非ALS患者的大型前角细胞的神经元胞体和近端突起中观察到BDNF的点状染色，在神经毡中免疫标记的远端轴突中也观察到了这种染色。在ALS患者的前角细胞中发现了相同的免疫染色模式。两组患者的克拉克背核、中间外侧核和后角感觉系统的神经元也均被染色。结果表明，BDNF可能在人脊髓中广泛作为一种营养因子发挥作用，并且ALS患者的运动神经元可能从脊髓中的其他神经元亚群获得足够的内源性BDNF。
