Protein synthetic machinery and mRNA in regenerating tips of spinal cord axons in lamprey.

Polyribosomes, mRNA, and other elements of translational machinery have been reported in peripheral nerves and in elongating injured axons of sensory neurons in vitro, primarily in growth cones. Evidence for involvement of local protein synthesis in regenerating central nervous system (CNS) axons is less extensive. We monitored regeneration of back-labeled lamprey spinal axons after spinal cord transection and detected mRNA in axon tips by in situ hybridization and microaspiration of their axoplasm.

Lysosomal proliferation and distal degeneration in motor neurons expressing the G59S mutation in the p150Glued subunit of dynactin.

An increasing number of neurodegenerative diseases are being linked to mutations in genes encoding proteins required for axonal transport and intracellular trafficking. A mutation in p150(Glued), a component of the cytoplasmic dynein/dynactin microtubule motor complex, results in the human neurodegenerative disease distal spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (dSBMA). We have developed a transgenic mouse model of dSBMA; these mice exhibit late-onset, slowly progressive muscle weakness but do not have a shortened lifespan, consistent with the human phenotype.