1a). The expression of galectin-3 protein was measured in spinal cord and other tissues at 126 days of age, when expression levels were likely to be highest. However, galectin-3 was not increased in supraspinal CNS regions (cerebral cortex, cerebellum), or in gastrocnemius

muscle, which is affected in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical ALS and in B6SJL SOD1G93A mice (Fig. 1b). Rather, it was confined to the spinal cord, where it increased from 70 to 126 days of age in B6SJL SOD1G93A mice, compared with age-matched controls (~11-fold increase from 70 to 126 days of age; Fig. 1c and d). Galectin-9 protein also increased from 98 to 126 days of age in B6SJL SOD1G93A mice, whereas galectin-1 protein was not elevated until 126 days of age (Fig. 1c and d). These time points correspond to distinct functional stages in the B6SJL SOD1G93A strain, where 70 days of age = asymptomatic selleck compound library disease, 98 days of age = onset of symptoms, and 126 days of age = end-stage/loss of righting reflex. Figure 1 Galectins are specifically Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and differentially expressed in the spinal

cord of mice with chronic motor neuron disease. (a) Heat map of galectin mRNA transcripts expressed over time as detected by microarray analyses of spinal cords from B6SJL SOD1 G93A … Galectin-3 protein Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical expression was also ~12-fold greater in spinal cords from patients with sporadic ALS, relative to age-matched controls who died from Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical other causes (Fig. 2a and b). Galectin-9 protein was approximately 4-fold higher in spinal cords from patients with ALS, whereas galectin-1 was not significantly altered. Figure 2 Expression of galectin-3 and -9, but not galectin-1 is elevated in

patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and galectin-3 is expressed by microglia. Galectin levels in spinal cord homogenates from patients with sporadic ALS (n = 5) … To determine which cells express galectin-3, lumbar spinal Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cord sections from patients with ALS or B6SJL SOD1G93A mice not were double stained with antibodies to galectin-3 and several cell-type specific marker proteins and visualized with a fluorescent microscope. Galectin-3 was primarily expressed by microglia (Iba1-microglial marker, thick arrows), was also occasionally observed in astrocytes (GFAP-astrocyte marker, thin arrows; Fig. 2c and d), but was not typically expressed in neurons. Galectin-3 was also primarily expressed in microglia in B6 SJL SOD1G93A mice, at 90 (Fig. 3) and 130 days of age (data not shown). Figure 3 Galectin-3 is primarily expressed by microglia and some astrocytes in the B6SJL SOD1 G93A spinal cord. Representative images of transverse sections of the lumbar spinal cord from 90-day-old B6SJL SOD1 G93A transgenic mice and aged-matched WT controls …