background: the failure of regeneration after spinal cord injury (sci) has been attributed to axonal demyelination and neuronal death. cellular replacement and white matter regeneration are both necessary for sci repair. in this study, we evaluated the co-transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells (oec) and embryonic stem (es) cell-derived motor neurons (esmn) on contused sci. methods: oec ...

The survival motor neuron (SMN) protein is part of a macromolecular complex that functions in the biogenesis of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs)--the essential components of the pre-messenger RNA splicing machinery--as well as probably other RNPs. Reduced levels of SMN expression cause the inherited motor neuron disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Knowledge of the composition, inter...

In spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease caused by ubiquitous deficiency in the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein, sensory-motor synaptic dysfunction and increased excitability precede motor neuron (MN) loss. Whether central synaptic dysfunction and MN hyperexcitability are cell-autonomous events or they contribute to MN death is unknown. We addressed these issues using a stem-...

Spinal muscular atrophy results from diminished levels of survival motor neuron (SMN) protein in spinal motor neurons. Low levels of SMN also occur in models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) caused by mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) and genetic reduction of SMN levels exacerbates the phenotype of transgenic SOD1(G93A) mice. Here, we demonstrate that SMN protein is significantly reduc...

Degeneration and loss of lower motor neurons is the major pathological hallmark of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), resulting from low levels of ubiquitously-expressed survival motor neuron (SMN) protein. One remarkable, yet unresolved, feature of SMA is that not all motor neurons are equally affected, with some populations displaying a robust resistance to the disease. Here, we demonstrate that ...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disorder leading to paralysis and early death due to reduced SMN protein. It is unclear why there is such a profound motor neuron loss, but recent evidence from fly and mouse studies indicate that cells comprising the whole sensory-motor circuit may contribute to motor neuron dysfunction and loss. Here, we used induced pluripotent stem cel...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by deletion or specific mutations of the telomeric survival motor neuron ( SMN ) gene on human chromosome 5. The human SMN gene, in contrast to the Smn gene in mouse, is duplicated and the centromeric copy on chromosome 5 codes for transcripts which preferentially lead to C-terminally truncated SMN protein. Here we show that a 46% reduction of Smn protein...

Objective(s): Cell therapy has provided clinical applications to the treatment of motor neuron diseases. The current obstacle in stem cell therapy is to direct differentiation of stem cells into neurons in the neurodegenerative disorders. Biomaterial scaffolds can improve cell differentiation and are widely used in translational medicine and tissue engineering. The aim...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an inherited motor neuron disease caused by the mutation of the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene and deficiency of the SMN protein. Severe SMA mice have abnormal motor function and small, immature myofibers early in development suggesting that SMN protein deficiency results in retarded muscle growth. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) stimulates myoblast pr...