Potential skin involvement in ALS: revisiting Charcot's observation - a review of skin abnormalities in ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons of the brain and spinal cord, leading to progressive paralysis and death. Interestingly, many skin changes have been reported in ALS patients, but never as yet fully explained. These observations could be due to the common embryonic origin of the skin and neural tissue known as the ectodermal germ layer. Following the first observation in ALS patients' skin by Dr Charcot in the 19th century, in the absence of bedsores unlike other bedridden patients, other morphological and molecular changes have been observed. Thus, the skin could be of interest in the study of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. This review summarizes skin changes reported in the literature over the years and discusses about a novel in vitro ALS tissue-engineered skin model, derived from patients, for the study of ALS.