ALS RESEARCH

Restoring Axonal Organelle Motility and Regeneration in Cultured FUS-ALS Motoneurons through Magnetic Field Stimulation Suggests an Alternative Therapeutic Approach

(Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/12/11/1502)

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating motoneuron disease characterized by sustained loss of neuromuscular junctions, degenerating corticospinal motoneurons and rapidly progressing muscle paralysis.

Current drug treatments only have marginal effects on survival, thereby calling for alternative ALS therapies. Exposure to magnetic fields, e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) on the central nervous system (CNS), has been broadly explored over the past 20 years to investigate and improve physical and mental activities through stimulated excitability as well as neuronal plasticity.

However, studies of magnetic treatments on the peripheral nervous system are still scarce. Thus, we investigated the therapeutic potential of low frequency alternating current magnetic fields on cultured spinal motoneurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells of FUS-ALS patients and healthy persons. We report a remarkable restoration induced by magnetic stimulation on axonal trafficking of mitochondria and lysosomes and axonal regenerative sprouting after axotomy in FUS-ALS in vitro without obvious harmful effects on diseased and healthy neurons. These beneficial effects seem to derive from improved microtubule integrity. Thus, our study suggests the therapeutic potential of magnetic stimulations in ALS, which awaits further exploration and validation in future long-term in vivo studies.

Neuromuscular Magnetic Stimulation Counteracts Muscle Decline in ALS Patients: Results of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Study

(Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39313-z)

The aim of the study was to verify whether neuromuscular magnetic stimulation (NMMS) improves muscle function in spinal-onset amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients.

Twenty-two ALS patients were randomized in two groups to receive, daily for two weeks, NMMS in right or left arm (referred to as real-NMMS, rNMMS), and sham NMMS (sNMMS) in the opposite arm.

The primary outcome was the change in the muscle strength in upper arms. The secondary outcomes were the change from baseline in the CMAP amplitudes, in the nicotinic ACh currents, in the expression levels of a selected panel of genes involved in muscle growth and atrophy, and in histomorphometric parameters of ALS muscle fibers.

The Repeated Measures showed a significant effect at the flexor carpi radialis muscle, thus demonstrating that the rNMMS significantly improves muscle strength in flexor muscles in the forearm. Secondary outcomes showed that the improvement to counteracting muscle atrophy, down-modulating the proteolysis, and increasing the efficacy of nicotinic ACh receptors (AChRs).