Talbot and T. H. Gillingwater (2010) Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology36, 133–156 Neuromuscular synaptic vulnerability in motor neurone disease: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy Amid the great diversity of neurodegenerative conditions, Autophagy inhibitor cell line there is a growing body of evidence that non-somatic (that is, synaptic and distal axonal) compartments of neurones are early and important subcellular sites of pathological change. In this review

we discuss experimental data from human patients, animal models and in vitro systems showing that neuromuscular synapses are targeted in different forms of motor neurone disease (MND), including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy. We highlight find more important developments revealing the heterogeneous nature of vulnerability in populations

of lower motor units in MND and examine how progress in our understanding of the molecular pathways underlying MND may provide insights into the regulation of synaptic vulnerability and pathology. We conclude that future experiments developing therapeutic approaches specifically targeting neuromuscular synaptic vulnerability are likely to be required to prevent or delay disease onset and progression in human MND patients. “
“Leukoaraiosis refers to an age-related, abnormal appearance of the brain white matter on neuroimaging. The association between leukoaraiosis and cerebrovascular disease suggests that ischemia may be an important contributing

factor; however, the pathogenesis of the condition remains controversial. We hypothesized that physical abnormalities of blood vessels might be culpable and compared the external and internal measurements of L-NAME HCl blood vessel walls between brains that demonstrated leukoaraiosis on imaging and normal control brains. Fourteen brains of individuals who had been diagnosed as having severe leukoaraiosis and five non-leukoaraiosis control brains were studied. Arterial cross-sections were evaluated by length measurements with an image analysis device. Arterial wall thickness and the ratio of the outer and inner diameters of the vessel were measured. We measured a total of 108 vessels in the leukoaraiosis group and 95 vessels in the control group. The vessel walls of the leukoaraiosis patients were an average of 5.5 µm thicker than the walls of control vessels of the same inside diameter (P = 0.0000, 95% CI 3.01–8.08) and an average of 2.3 µm thicker than walls of control vessels of the same outside diameter (P = 0.016, 95% CI 0.48–4.17). Our data provide evidence that leukoaraiosis is associated with vessel wall thickening in an additive fashion and indicate that structural vascular abnormalities are associated with leukoaraiosis. “
“Giant cell angiitis of the CNS is an uncommon form of vasculitis. Neurological manifestations, both of the peripheral and CNS, are common. The most frequent manifestations are visual loss and stroke. Hemorrhagic onset is uncommon.