Small GSK-3 Inhibitor Shows Efficacy in a Motor Neuron Disease Murine Model Modulating Autophagy

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron degenerative disease that has no effective treatment up to date. Drug discovery tasks have been hampered due to the lack of knowledge in its molecular etiology together with the limited animal models for research. Recently, a motor ne...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Munk, Estefanía de, Palomo, Valle, Muñoz Sáez, Emma, Pérez, Daniel I., Gómez Miguel, Begoña, Solas Alados, Mª Teresa, Gil, Carmen, Martínez, Ana, Arahuetes Portero, Rosa María
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/17606
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/17606
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:591.1
612.8
Autophagic cell death
Spinal cord
Motor neuron diseases
Animal mode disease
Fisiología animal (Biología)
Neurociencias (Biológicas)
2401.13 Fisiología Animal
2490 Neurociencias
Descripción
Sumario:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron degenerative disease that has no effective treatment up to date. Drug discovery tasks have been hampered due to the lack of knowledge in its molecular etiology together with the limited animal models for research. Recently, a motor neuron disease animal model has been developed using β-Nmethylamino-L-alanine (L-BMAA), a neurotoxic amino acid related to the appearing of ALS. In the present work, the neuroprotective role of VP2.51, a small heterocyclic GSK-3 inhibitor, is analysed in this novel murine model together with the analysis of autophagy. VP2.51 daily administration for two weeks, starting the first day after L-BMAA treatment, leads to total recovery of neurological symptoms and prevents the activation of autophagic processes in rats. These results show that the L-BMAA murine model can be used to test the efficacy of new drugs. In addition, the results confirm the therapeutic potential of GSK-3 inhibitors, and specially VP2.51, for the disease-modifying future treatment of motor neuron disorders like ALS.