Volumetric cortical loss in sporadic and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled Volumetric cortical loss in sporadic and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( Amyotroph Lateral Scler. 2007 Dec;8(6):343-7). Authors are Turner MR Hammers A Allsop J et al., from the Department of Neurology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK. Patients homozygous for the D90A mutation of the SOD1 gene (homD90A) demonstrate slower progression of disease than those with sporadic ALS (SALS).Analyis of magnetic resonance images (MRIs) enables the detection of regional differences in grey matter volume, and can be used to localize cortical atrophy in vivo.The SALS group showed bilateral areas of atrophy mainly confined to motor and pre-motor cortices. Cortical changes in the homD90A group were more pronounced within the frontal lobes when both were compared with healthy controls. This study provides further evidence for a different pattern of cortical neuronal vulnerability in homD90A versus SALS patients that may provide insight as to their slower rate of disease progression. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.