The wobbler mouse: amino acid contents in brain and spinal cord

Reductions in glutamate and aspartate contents, together with increased contents of taurine, have been observed in the autopsied brains and spinal cords of patients who have died with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The wobbler mouse develops an inherited degeneration of motoneurons within the brainstem and spinal cord, and has been proposed as an animal model of ALS. In symptomatic wobbler mice we found brain contents of glutamate, aspartate, and taurine similar to those in unaffected littermates, while brain contents of glutamine were increased, and those of serine and alanine were decreased. Spinal cords of wobbler mice had slightly decreased contents of glutamate, aspartate and glycine compared to normal littermates. Abnormalities of amino acid contents in the nervous system of wobbler mice are dissimilar to those in ALS patients suggesting a different pathogenesis of motoneuron loss.