Journal
NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS
Volume 759, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.136041
Keywords
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Motor neurons; Rodents; Caenorhabditis elegans; Drosophila melanogaster; Danio rerio
Categories
Funding
- VIB, KU Leuven
- Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWOVlaanderen) [G0C1620N]
- Thierry Latran Foundation
- Association Belge contre les Maladies neuroMusculaires - aide a la recherche ASBL (ABMM)
- Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA)
- ALS Liga Belgied (A Cure for ALS)
- ALS Association (ALSA)
- FWOVlaanderen [1145619N, 11C7621N]
- Target ALS
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ALS is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of motor neurons. Alternative small animal models, such as nematodes, fruit flies, and zebrafish, have provided new insights into ALS pathomechanisms and therapeutic targets, complementing traditional rodent models in preclinical studies.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of upper and lower motor neurons. In general, patients succumb to respiratory insufficiency due to respiratory muscle weakness. Despite many promising therapeutic strategies primarily identified in rodent models, patient trials remain rather unsuccessful. There is a clear need for alternative approaches, which could provide directions towards the justified use of rodents and which increase the likelihood to identify new promising clinical candidates. In the last decades, the use of fast genetic approaches and the development of high-throughput screening platforms in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and in zebrafish (Danio rerio) have contributed to new insights into ALS pathomechanisms, disease modifiers and therapeutic targets. In this mini-review, we provide an overview of these alternative small animal studies, modeling the most common ALS genes and discuss the most recent preclinical discoveries. We conclude that small animal models will not replace rodent models, yet they clearly represent an important asset for preclinical studies.
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