Skeletal muscle and motor neurons in development and disease

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Boris Kablar

Dalhousie University, Canada

: J Spine Neurosurg

Abstract

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As a medical doctor and developmental biologist, I perform studies in order to determine if voluntary (skeletal or striated) muscle plays an active role in the etiology and pathogenesis of Motor Neuron Diseases, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Because of various pieces of information, I think that an initially asymptomatic muscle either sends a trigger(s) or/and does not send a trophic factor(s) to the lower motor neuron in the spinal cord or/and brain. This initiates a cascade of events, such as peripheral axonopathy and peripheral inflammatory response, followed by the motor neuron death, central inflammatory response and subsequent muscle atrophy. Within the field, I am not the only one with an interest in muscle as one of the earliest, and potentially primary, sites for the initiation of ALS-mediated degeneration of the body’s muscle and nervous tissues. With my laboratory members and collaborators, we are preparing a publication to reveal some of our cDNA microarray analysis data. Here, I elaborate on my next immediate stepsto deploy a Systems Biology approach, employing: StarNet, BioBricks, Registry Biological Parts, Database of Interacting Proteins, Protein Data Bank, ProtFun, STRING, EmbryoNet, BioCreAtIvE, in order to design next best experiments and therapeutic strategies targeting muscle for the treatment and cure of ALS.

Biography

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