Reach task-associated excitatory overdrive of motor cortical neurons following infusion with ALS-CSF.

Converging evidence from transgenic animal models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and human studies suggest alterations in excitability of the motor neurons in ALS. Specifically, in studies on human subjects with ALS the motor cortex was reported to be hyperexcitable. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that infusion of cerebrospinal fluid from patients with sporadic ALS (ALS-CSF) into the rat brain ventricle can induce hyperexcitability and structural changes in the motor cortex leading to motor dysfunction.

Altered neuronal activities in the motor cortex with impaired motor performance in adult rats observed after infusion of cerebrospinal fluid from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients.

Although definite evidences are available to state that, neuronal activity is a prime determinant of animal behavior, the specific relationship between local field potentials of the motor cortex after intervention with CSF from human patients and animal behavior have remained opaque. The present study has investigated whether cerebrospinal fluid from sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) patients could disrupt neuronal activity of the motor cortex, which could be associated with disturbances in the motor performance of adult rats. CSF from ALS patients (ALS-CSF) was infused into the lateral ventricle of Wistar rats.