Does the pathological factor in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) damage also astrocytes?

Introduction of immunocytochemical reaction to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) made possible more accurate estimation of astrocytes reactivity in various diseases of CNS, among others, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Lack of present studies concerning reactive astroglia in spinal cord, inclined us to examine the reaction of astrocytes in cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal cord. Material included 11 sporadic ALS patients. Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, Kluver-Barrera method and with antibody against GFAP. In all cases various degree of nerve cells loss in the anterior horn, pigmentary degeneration of remaining neurons, the pallor of myelin in the white matter of anterior and lateral columns were observed. In a part of cases background tissue rarefaction within anterior horn was seen. Intensity of morphological changes within anterior horns made possible to divide material into two groups and separate one senile case. Very intensive neuronal changes associated with weak reaction of astrocytes in the anterior horn allow us to pose the hypothesis of influence of an unknown pathological factor on both anterior horn neurons and astrocytes.