Dismutase-competent SOD1 mutant accumulation in myelinating Schwann cells is not detrimental to normal or transgenic ALS model mice

Abstract

Mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) action within non-neuronal cells is implicated in damage to spinal motor neurons in a genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Central nervous system glial cells such as astrocytes and microglia drive progression in transgenic mutant SOD1 mice, however, the role of myelinating glia remains unclear. Specifically, peripheral myelinating glial cells are likely candidates for med- iating degeneration of distal synapses and axons of motor neurons in ALS. Here, we examine the potential contribution of peripheral axon ensheathing Schwann cells to ALS by constructing transgenic mice expres- sing dismutase active mutant SOD1G93A driven by the myelin protein zero (P0) promoter. In this model, mutant SOD1 accumulation in Schwann cells was comparable to levels in mice ubiquitously expressing a SOD1G93A transgene that become paralysed. Growth, locomotion and survival of these P0-SOD1G93A mice were indistinguishable from normal animals. There was no evidence for spinal motor neuron loss, distal axonal degeneration and p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) upregulation in the periphery of P0-SOD1G93A mice, unlike transgenic SOD1G93A mice with presymptomatic p75NTR induction and death-signalling. Furthermore, Schwann cells were resistant to mutant SOD1 aggregation in vivo and in transfected primary cultures. Increasing mutant SOD1 synthesis in Schwann cells by cross-breeding transgenic P0-SOD1G93A and SOD1G93A mice did not affect disease onset or survival. We conclude that dismutase-competent mutant SOD1 accumulation within Schwann cells is not pathological to spinal motor neurons or deleterious to disease course in transgenic ALS model mice, in contrast to astrocytes and microglia. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.