The involvement of the Kynurenine pathway in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal motor neuron disease of unclear aetiology, although the general consensus is of a multifactorial disease. The kynurenine pathway (KP), activated during neuroinflammation, is emerging as a possible contributory factor in ALS. The KP is the major route for tryptophan (TRP) catabolism. The intermediates generated can be either neurotoxic, such as quinolinic acid (QUIN), or neuroprotective, such as picolinic acid (PIC), an important endogenous metal chelator. The first and inducible enzyme is indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO). As the extent of the involvement of the KP in ALS is unknown, the main aim of this thesis was to attempt to answer that question. The techniques used in this work include HPLC, GC/MS, RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and immunocyctochemsitry. The main findings of this project are: (1) the complete KP is present in the mouse motor neuron cell line, NSC-34; (2) QUIN toxicity on NSC-34 cells may be ameliorated through the administration of NMDA antagonists, neuroprotective kynurenines, kynurenine inhibitor and QUIN monoclonal antibody; (3) in ALS patients, QUIN CSF and serum levels are significantly elevated, while PIC serum levels are significantly reduced; (4) ALS brain and spinal cord tissue show extensive microglia activation and positive immunoreactivity IDO and QUIN in spinal motor neurons and Betz cells in the motor cortex; and (5) kynurenine pathway inhibitor and analogue, R061-8048 and tranilast, are able to prolong the survival in the G93A SOD1 ALS transgenic mouse model. In conclusion, this study provide the first strong evidence for the involvement of the KP in ALS, and these data point to an inflammation-driven excitotoxic-chelation defective mechanism in ALS, which is amenable to KP analogue and inhibitor in ALS transgenic mice