New Study Finds Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier Compromised in Mice with ALS

Tampa, FL -- The blood-spinal cord barrier is functionally impaired in areas of motor neuron damage in mice modeling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), report researchers at the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair. The barrier disruption was found in mice at both early and late stages of ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The study, “Evidence of Compromised Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier in Early and Late Symptomatic SOD1 Mice Modeling ALS,” appears online in PLoS ONE, an international, peer-reviewed journal published by the Public Library of Science.