Quantifying motor unit loss prior to functional impairment in muscles affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The compound muscle action potential (CMAP) scan is a non-invasive method for deriving motor unit number estimates (MUNE) to track disease progression in muscles affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It remains to be established whether and how long motor unit loss precedes functional impairment.

In 56 patients with ALS, we compared the longitudinal trajectories of MUNE derived from thenar CMAP scans, and fine motor function (FMF) using a functional rating scale. Linear and sigmoidal disease trajectories were modelled from which time differences were estimated between these measures to reach their half-maximum scores.

The normalized linear decline per month was 0.02 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.03) for FMF and 0.03 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.04) for MUNE. Half-maximum of FMF was reached after 26.3 months (95% CI 18.9 to 35.1) for the linear model, while MUNE had a shorter time required to reach 50% of its maximum with 13.0 months (95% CI 10.3 to 16.4). The head-to-head comparison between FMF and MUNE showed that MUNE values reached 50% of its maximum 13.1 months (95% CI 7.0-20.8) earlier. Results were similar for sigmoidal disease trajectories.

Simulated disease trajectories of MUNE values derived from CMAP scans in muscles affected by ALS indicated that MUNE may reach 50% of its maximum in approximately 60% of the time compared to functional impairment.

These explorative findings underscore how neurophysiological measures may be of use for early disease monitoring, with relevance for both care and research settings.