Human iPSC-derived motoneurons harbouring TARDBP or C9ORF72 ALS mutations are dysfunctional despite maintaining viability

This work has been supported by: Motor Neurone Disease Association (G.B.M., S.C. and C.E.S.); Euan MacDonald Centre (G.B.M. and S.C.); European Research Council (L.V.); Cambridge Hospitals National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center (L.V.).Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease for which a greater understanding of early disease mechanisms is needed to reveal novel therapeutic targets. We report the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived motoneurons (MNs) to study the pathophysiology of ALS. We demonstrate that MNs derived from iPSCs obtained from healthy individuals or patients harbouring TARDBP or C9ORF72 ALS-causing mutations are able to develop appropriate physiological properties. However, patient iPSC-derived MNs, independent of genotype, display an initial hyperexcitability followed by progressive loss of action potential output and synaptic activity. This loss of functional output reflects a progressive decrease in voltage-activated Na+ and K+ currents, which occurs in the absence of overt changes in cell viability. These data implicate early dysfunction or loss of ion channels as a convergent point that may contribute to the initiation of downstream degenerative pathways that ultimately lead to MN loss in ALS.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe