Topic: neuromuscular junctions

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an adult-onset neurodegenerative disease that causes the degeneration of motor neurons in the motor cortex and spinal cord. Patients with ALS experience muscle weakness and atrophy in the limbs which eventually leads to paralysis and death. NAD+ is critical for energy metabolism, such as glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, but is also involved in non-metabolic cellular reactions. In the current study, we determined whether the supplementation of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), an NAD+ precursor, in the diet had beneficial impacts on disease progr

HuD is an RNA-binding protein encoded by the ELAVL4 gene, which is expressed in the nervous system and plays a crucial role during nervous system development. However, recent evidence suggests its potential involvement in neurodegenerative processes, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by death of motoneurons (MNs). Notably, upregulation of both mRNA and protein levels of HuD has been observed in MNs derived from FUS P525L human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and in a Fus-Δ14 knock-in mouse model, impacting on MNs’ transcriptome and

In drosophila neurons, information flows from the soma to the active zones, electron-dense regions decorated with conserved molecules, including BRP. BRP sits vis-a-vis postsynaptic Glutamate receptors. Despite comprehensive studies highlighting their importance in synaptic transmission, there has yet to be a study regarding the temporal dynamics of these molecules at drosophila neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) and their correlation with changes in locomotor patterns. In this study, we aimed to study the temporal dynamics of BRP and glutamate receptors via immunostaining and imaging. We quantita