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Spinal muscular atrophy in childhood: review of 50 cases.

The clinical findings in 50 children with intermediate or mild spinal muscular atrophy are reviewed. An early age of onset and the presence of tongue fasciculation carry a poor prognosis for disability. Scoliosis appears early in nearly all children with the more severe forms of spinal muscular atrophy and early energetic treatment is indicated. Contractures are also found in both the more severe and the milder forms and are the main cause of progressive disability, since continuous deterioration of muscle power was not evident in the present series. Respiratory failure is rare but potentially fatal, and may occur even in mild forms of the disease. Clinically evident weakness of the axial musculature may give warning of this complication.

Adolescent↗

Spinal muscular atrophy in Holstein-Friesian calves.

The clinical and neuropathological findings of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in Holstein-Friesian calves are described in four females and one male from a dairy farm composed of 150 cows and 2 breeding bulls. Locomotion difficulties started at the age of 15 days, and progressed to paraparesis and tetraparesis in 2 weeks. Signs consistent with denervation were revealed with electromyography. The neuropathological examination showed degeneration and loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord, together with astrocytosis. Among the remaining motor neurons were ghost cells and neurons filled with accumulations of straight filaments measuring 10-12 nm in diameter, which were strongly immunoreactive with antibodies produced against phosphorylated neurofilaments. Degenerating cells in SMA did not stain with the method of in situ labelling of nuclear DNA fragmentation and did not show c-Jun immunoreactivity. This feature contrasts with the in situ labelling of DNA breaks of apoptotic cells and with the strong c-Jun immunoreactivity restricted to dying cells during the whole process of naturally occurring cell death in the developing central nervous system. These features suggest that cell death in SMA differs from programmed cell death during normal development, and that pathological cell death in SMA should not be considered as a mere persistence or reactivation of normally occurring developmental cell death.

Animals↗

Spinal muscular atrophy and hypertrophy of the calves.

In 100 patients (59 males and 41 females) suffering from proximal spinal muscular atrophy, 23 presented with hypertrophy of the calves. These were all males. They all showed an elevation of serum CK-activity. The combination of spinal muscular atrophy, hypertrophy of the calves and elevated serum CK activity was not found in females.

Adolescent↗

Clinical and molecular genetic features of congenital spinal muscular atrophy.

A neonate presented with the fetal hypokinesia sequence and signs of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Severe pathological changes including ballooned neurons and neuronophagia were found not only in the motor nerve nuclei but also in the thalamic, cerebellar, and brainstem nuclei as well as in the dorsal root ganglia. Direct DNA analysis showed the presence of a chimeric SMN gene, with a rearrangement occurring between exon 7 of the centromeric SMN gene and exon 8 of the telomeric SMN gene. Circumstantial evidence suggests that only a single copy of this gene is present, with transcriptional characteristics of a centromeric SMN gene. In addition, a homozygous deletion in the NAIP genes was demonstrated. This observation demonstrates that at least some cases with fetal hypokinesia and SMA may represent the severe end of a spectrum of disorders caused by deletions in the SMA locus on chromosome 5q13. In addition, these findings are compatible with a modifying role for the centromeric SMN genes and the NAIP genes in the severity of the SMA phenotype.

Autoantigens↗

Spinal muscular atrophy type 1: what are the ethics and practicality of respiratory support?

Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type I (SMA I) is the most severe form of SMA. It presents in infancy and without treatment death occurs by 2 years. Treatments in use address respiratory and nutritional issues but even with aggressive treatment death is still likely in childhood. Thus their use is not obligatory. However, pediatric respirologists must be willing and comfortable at presenting all treatment options, including the option of palliative care, to families and then supporting the family's choice. Whatever the chosen treatment regimen, decision making is difficult for families. Support and help must be provided from the time of presentation till death by a knowledgeable and compassionate team.

Child↗

An unusual form of spinal muscular atrophy with mental retardation occurring in an inbred population.

Three sibs are described suffering from hereditary non-progressive spinal muscular atrophy with non-progressive mental retardation. One of them had in addition signs of pyramidal tract involvement. Muscular weakness was more pronounced proximally than distally and the neck muscles were severely involved. Th.ey all had small skulls and several associated congenital malformations were observed including syndactyly of the left hand in 1 patient. The patients belong to a small inbred community in the Netherlands. Erythropoietic protoporphyria was also present in the family but segregated independently. This combination of "congenital" mental retardation with "congenital" non-progressive spinal muscular atrophy is believed to represent a new syndrome, caused by a rare recessive gene.

Adult↗

Mapping of human microtubule-associated protein 1B in proximity to the spinal muscular atrophy locus at 5q13.

A polyclonal antiserum directed against the C-terminal domain of dystrophin was used to isolate a cDNA clone encoding an antigenically cross-reactive protein, microtubule-associated protein 1B (MAP-1B). Physical mapping of the human MAP-1B locus places its chromosomal location at 5q13, in proximity to the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) locus. SMA is a degenerative disorder primarily affecting motor neurons. Genetic linkage analysis of SMA families using a human dinucleotide repeat polymorphism just 3' of the MAP-1B gene has shown tight linkage to SMA mutations. These mapping data together with the postulated role of MAP-1B in neuronal morphogenesis and its localization in anterior horn motor neurons suggest a possible association with SMA.

Animals↗

Detection of homozygous and heterozygous SMN deletions of spinal muscular atrophy in a single assay with multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification.

OBJECTIVE: Spinal muscular atrophy(SMA), an autosomal recessive neuromuscular degeneration of the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and brain stem, results in one of the most common diseases with muscle fatigue and atrophy. Most SMA cases including all the types are due to the homozygous deletion of at least exon 7 within the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN-1) gene. Although a "golden standard" assay (PCR with mismatch primer followed by enzyme digestion) is very reliable for the identification of homozygous SMN-1 deletion, the carrier detection of heterozygous SMN-1 deletion remains a challenge. METHODS: Some PCR-based gene dosage assays or multiplex PCR allow for the determination of the copy number of SMN-1 gene to identify heterozygous deletion, but these procedures are often time consuming and available on a limited clinical basis. Recently developed MLPA (multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification) is an efficient procedure that can accurately analyze relative quantification to establish the copy number of the SMN gene. We performed a validation for simultaneous detection of homozygous SMN-1 deletions of SMA patients and heterozygous SMN-1 deletions of SMA carriers in a simple assay using a MLPA-SMA assay specific reagent. RESULTS: Six out of 20 patients with SMA were found to have homozygous SMN-1 deletion, confirmed by the PCR/digestion assay. All 4 parents of the children with SMA had heterozygous SMN-1 deletion, confirmed by an independent relative quantitative analysis. CONCLUSION: MLPA provides a simple, rapid and accurate method of simultaneously detecting homozygous deletions and heterozygous deletions in a single assay for both SMN-1 and SMN-2 genes.

Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein↗

Motor nerve conduction velocity in spinal muscular atrophy of childhood.

The ulnar and posterior tibial conduction velocities were measured in 29 children with spinal muscular atrophy, 14 of whom had the servere form of the disease. The ulnar nerve velocity was slow in 12 of the 14 severely affected infants, but normal or fast in 11 of 14 children less severely affected. The corresponding results for the posterior tibial nerve were slow velocities in 11 of 12 infants in the severe group and normal or fast in all 11 infants less severely affected. The difficulty in distinguishing infantile spinal muscular atrophy from peripheral neuropathy is emphasized.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease↗

Phenotype and genotype correlation in childhood spinal muscular atrophy.

In the period 1998-2000 almost all new cases of childhood spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in addition to those from our database were studied for possible deletion of SMN gene (exons 7 a 8) and NAIP (exons 5 a 6). We correlated the size of deletion with the type, course and the onset of disease. The most informative for diagnosis was deletion of SMN. NAIP was deleted only in 18% of all cases, usually in SMA1 (in only 2 cases of SMA2). The molecular genetics permits to come back to previously posed question about the extremely frequent intrafamilial variability in SMA families. The problem became more clear due to our knowledge on telomeric and centromeric copies, as well as various genes and paragenes involved in SMA region. In the premolecular era we postulated the gender influence on course of the disease, which is particularly evident in mild SMA form 3b. Interestingly, presently we and some others detected deletion similar to those in the patients among the clinically healthy siblings. Those siblings are mostly females. The other problem, byproduct of molecular genetic, is the occurrence of SMN deletion in some disorders till now considered entirely different from SMA, e.g., arthrogryposis, congenital hypomyelinating neuropathies of newborn.

Child↗

X-linked infantile spinal muscular atrophy: clinical definition and molecular mapping.

PURPOSE: X-linked infantile spinal-muscular atrophy (XL-SMA) is a rare disorder, which presents with the clinical characteristics of hypotonia, areflexia, and multiple congenital contractures (arthrogryposis) associated with loss of anterior horn cells and death in infancy. We have previously reported a single family with XL-SMA that mapped to Xp11.3-q11.2. Here we report further clinical description of XL-SMA plus an additional seven unrelated (XL-SMA) families from North America and Europe that show linkage data consistent with the same region. METHODS: We first investigated linkage to the candidate disease gene region using microsatellite repeat markers. We further saturated the candidate disease gene region using polymorphic microsatellite repeat markers and single nucleotide polymorphisms in an effort to narrow the critical region. Two-point and multipoint linkage analysis was performed using the Allegro software package. RESULTS: Linkage analysis of all XL-SMA families displayed linkage consistent with the original XL-SMA region. CONCLUSION: The addition of new families and new markers has narrowed the disease gene interval for a XL-SMA locus between SNP FLJ22843 near marker DXS 8080 and SNP ARHGEF9 which is near DXS7132 (Xp11.3-Xq11.1).

Chromosome Mapping↗

Spatial cognition in young children with spinal muscular atrophy.

Success in visuospatial tasks has often been demonstrated in teenagers with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). However, what has been tested in these studies, with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (Wechsler, 1974) performance scale, does not deal with the spatial capacities that co-occur with the advent of self-produced locomotion. Indeed, various studies have shown that occurrence of locomotion in infancy is correlated with the development of visuospatial cognitive competencies, suggesting that locomotor experience might play a central role in spatial development, especially in the realm of manual search for hidden objects. It is thus of interest to assess spatial search skills in SMA young children suffering total deprivation of locomotor experience. Twelve Type-2 SMA children with a mean age of 30 months were compared with controls with respect to their spatial search skills in a memory-for-locations task. In this search task, hiding containers were rotated 180 degrees before search was permitted. The performance obtained with the SMA group did not differ from that obtained in the healthy control group. SMA patients searched correctly for a hidden object in the 3-choice search task. Locomotor impairment does not appear to be a key risk factor for dramatic slowing down or deviation in the development of spatial search skills, as assumed by some authors. Further research is needed to identify the alternative pathways to normal spatial development that are used by SMA young children.

Case-Control Studies↗

Respiratory capacity course in patients with infantile spinal muscular atrophy.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To describe the clinical and respiratory course in infantile spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type I, type II, and type III, and to evaluate the respiratory needs for these patients, using noninvasive or tracheostomy ventilation. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: We report 33 patients with SMA true type I (onset before age 3 months), 35 patients with SMA intermediate type I (onset between 3 months and 6 months), 100 patients with SMA type II (onset between 6 months and 18 months), 12 patients with SMA type III (onset after age 18 months). We report the clinical symptoms, respiratory course, and respiratory management: respiratory physiotherapy, periodic hyperinsufflation, nasal nocturnal ventilation (NNV), and tracheostomy. Also, we measured the FVC over several years during childhood and adolescence. RESULTS: In patients with SMA true type I, 82% of patients died, one third of whom underwent tracheostomy. In patients with SMA intermediate type I, 43% needed NNV, 57% underwent tracheostomy, and 26% died. In patients with SMA type II, 38% needed NNV, 15% underwent tracheostomy, and 4% died. In patients with SMA type III, respiratory impairment was moderate and began during the second decade of life. CONCLUSION: This data shows the progressively worsening course of restrictive respiratory insufficiency in patients with SMA, and the importance of early respiratory management to limit pulmonary complications and improve the quality of life for these patients.

Adolescent↗

Exclusion of the gene locus for spinal muscular atrophy on chromosome 5q in a family with infantile olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA) and anterior horn cell degeneration.

Two sisters with infantile OPCA plus spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are reported. Both showed severe hypotonia and psychomotor delay from birth, and in addition, nystagmoid eye movements and vision impairment were evident. Cerebellar hypoplasia with cystic dilatation was seen by neuro-imaging methods. Pathoanatomically, a marked cerebellar hypoplasia and neuronal loss in the basal ganglia, brainstem and anterior horns were found in the deceased girl. Linkage studies with polymorphic markers of the region 5q11.2-q13.3 flanking the gene locus for infantile SMA showed identical parental haplotypes in the patients and their older healthy sister. It can be concluded that the gene locus for infantile SMA on chromosome 5q is not responsible for infantile OPCA plus anterior horn cell degeneration in the described family which might apply to this disorder in general.

Chromosome Mapping↗

Mapping of two new markers within the smallest interval harboring the spinal muscular atrophy locus by family and radiation hybrid analysis.

The locus responsible for the childhood-onset proximal spinal muscular atrophies (SMA) has recently been mapped to an area of 2-3 Mb in the region q12-q13.3 of chromosome 5. We have used a series of radiation hybrids (RHs) containing distinct parts of the SMA region as defined by reference markers. A cosmid library was constructed from one RH. Thirteen clones were isolated and five of these were mapped within the SMA region. Both RH mapping and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis showed that two clones map in the region between loci D5S125 and D5S351. One of the cosmids contains expressed sequences. Polymorphic dinucleotide repeats were identified in both clones and used for segregation analysis of key recombinant SMA families. One recombination between the SMA locus and the new marker 9Ic (D5S685) indicates that 9Ic is probably the closest distal marker. The absence of recombination between the SMA locus and marker Fc (D5S684) suggests that Fc is located close to the disease gene. These new loci should refine linkage analysis in SMA family studies and may facilitate the isolation of the disease gene.

Animals↗