Lab Meeting 2: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Loss of anterior horn cells leads to atrophy of the exiting motor roots. This picture shows a normal spinal cord with thicker nerve roots on the left and the patient with ALS to the right.

This disease is also known popularly as "Lou Gehrig's disease" after the famous New York Yankee first baseman whose consecutive game playing streak was ended by this illness. The casue is not known. It affects middle aged to older adults. It is manifested as progressive, symmetric weakness, generally of the extremities. Patients become weaker and eventually unable to perform tasks of daily living. They may become confined to a wheelchair and then bedridden. The disease occurs because the motor neurons are lost. In the spinal cord, the anterior horn cells are lost. Because of the loss of anterior horn cells, the anterior (ventral) spinal motor nerve roots demonstrate atrophy, as seen here in comparison with a normal spinal cord.