Non-
protein amino acid beta-N-methylamino-l-alanine (
l-BMAA) is a
neurotoxin that was associated with the high incidence of
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Parkinson-
Dementia Complex (ALS/PDC) in Guam. This
neurotoxin has been implicated as a potential environmental factor in
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
Alzheimer's disease and other
neurodegenerative diseases, and was found to accumulate in brain tissues of ALS/PDC patients. It is extremely important to establish a reliable animal model that has the comprehensive characteristics of ALS/PDC for studying mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, and exploring effective
therapies. However, very few good animal models that mimic ALS/PDC have been established. In this study, an ideal rat model that mimicked most characteristics of ALS/PDC was established by administering continuous intravenous (i.v.)
injections of neurotoxic
l-BMAA. Based on the data obtained, it was demonstrated that continuous i.v.
injections of
l-BMAA induced mitochondrial morphology and structural changes,
astrogliosis, motor neuronal death, and other relative functional changes, which led to the overexpression of pro-inflammatory
cytokines cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2),
nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and
tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and resulted in the upregulation of
glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3), downregulation of astrocytic
glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1), accumulation of
microtubule-associated protein tau and cytosolic aggregates of TAR
DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43) in degenerating motor neurons. These results suggest that this model could be used as a useful tool for the mechanistic and therapeutic study of ALS/PDC.