Abstract
Mast syndrome (SPG21) is a childhood-onset, autosomal recessive, complicated form of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) characterized by dementia, thin corpus callosum, white matter abnormalities, and cerebellar and extrapyramidal signs in addition to spastic paraparesis. A nucleotide insertion resulting in premature truncation of the SPG21 gene product maspardin underlies this disorder, likely leading to loss of protein function. In this study, we generated SPG21−/− knockout mice by homologous recombination as a possible animal model for SPG21. Though SPG21−/− mice appeared normal at birth, within several months they developed gradually progressive hind limb dysfunction. Cerebral cortical neurons cultured from SPG21−/− mice exhibited significantly more axonal branching than neurons from wild-type animals, while comprehensive neuropathological analysis of SPG21−/− mice did not reveal definitive abnormalities. Since alterations in axon branching have been seen in neurons derived from animal models of other forms of HSP as well as motor neuron diseases, this may represent a common cellular pathogenic theme.
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Abbreviations
- CNS:
-
Central nervous system
- DTA:
-
Diphtheria toxin subunit A
- ES:
-
Embryonic stem
- HSP:
-
Hereditary spastic paraplegia
- MBP:
-
Myelin basic protein
- NF:
-
Neurofilament
- NGS:
-
Normal goat serum
- NMJ:
-
Neuromuscular junction
- PBS:
-
Phosphate-buffered saline
- PFA:
-
Paraformaldehyde
- TBS:
-
Tris-buffered saline
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank James Nagle and Debbie Kauffman (NINDS DNA Sequencing Facility) for DNA sequencing and Dr. Peng-Peng Zhu for generation of the phylogenetic tree. This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health [to C.S., J.S., H.J., C.B, and M.C.H.], the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Pharmacology Research Associate (PRAT) Program and the Swedish Research Council [grant numbers 13473, 20587 to O.S.].
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Supplementary Fig. S1
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Supplementary Fig. S1
High Resolution Image (TIFF 14 936 kb)
Supplementary Fig. S2
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Supplementary Fig. S2
High Resolution Image (TIFF 7 089 kb)
SPG21+/+ mouse during the narrow beam-walking test (WMV 1,818 kb)
SPG21−/− mouse during the narrow beam-walking test (WMV 4,115 kb)
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Soderblom, C., Stadler, J., Jupille, H. et al. Targeted disruption of the Mast syndrome gene SPG21 in mice impairs hind limb function and alters axon branching in cultured cortical neurons. Neurogenetics 11, 369–378 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10048-010-0252-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10048-010-0252-7