Análysis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Immunoglobulin- G interaction with pre- synaptic proteins “

GONZALEZ LAURA E; KOTLER MONICA; MULATZ KIK; REISIN RICARDO C.; SNUTCH TERRENCE; UCHITEL OSVALDO D.

Congreso; XXVI Congreso anual SAN.; 2011

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive loss of motoneurons. The majority of cases belong to a sporadic form with unknown etiology. Several pieces of evidence support autoimmunity as one of the possible mechanisms contributing to ALS. We detected a diminished interaction of ALS antibodies with neuromuscular junctions from CaV2.1-deficient mice, and a lack of effect on spontaneous synaptic activity. The aim of our research was to evaluate the interactions between ALS-IgGs and P/Q-type calcium channels, in addition to other pre-synaptic proteins. We used HEK cells transfected with the P/Q-type calcium channel and analyzed cell lysates by Western blotting or immunoprecipitation assays with ALS-IgGs. We also analyzed ALS-IgGs immunoprecipitates from synaptosomal proteins for the presence of synaptic markers. None of the evaluated ALS-IgG samples exhibited affinity towards the pore-forming subunit expressed in HEK cells, evaluated either by western blotting or immunoprecipitation assays. The analysis of synaptosomal proteins immunoprecipitated with ALS antibodies could not revealed the presence of the alpha1 subunit or other synaptic proteins. Further studies will investigate the interaction with other synaptic components. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology Poster Number 39 | Session 3