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Updated: Sep 18, 2026

Utility of Dissociated Intrinsic Hand Muscle Atrophy in the Diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Published on: March 4, 2014
Resistance of extraocular motoneuron terminals to effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis sera
D R Mosier1, L Siklós, S H Appel
1Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. dmosier@bcm.tmc.edu
Abstract:
In sporadic ALS (s-ALS), axon terminals contain increased intracellular calcium. Passively transferred sera from patients with s-ALS increase intracellular calcium in spinal motoneuron terminals in vivo and enhance spontaneous transmitter release, a calcium-dependent process. In this study, passive transfer of s-ALS sera increased spontaneous release from spinal but not extraocular motoneuron terminals, suggesting that the resistance to physiologic abnormalities induced by s-ALS sera in mice parallels the resistance of extraocular motoneurons to dysfunction and degeneration in ALS.
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