Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Lou Gehrig’s Disease

7 Pages 1645 Words

mponents of the nervous system that connect the brain with the skeletal muscles, or voluntary muscles. “The principle pathologic feature of ALS is lower and upper motor neuron degeneration, although without inflammation”. (Boss, 1998) In less than two percent of patients ALS is caused by a mutation of the gene encoding the superoxide dismutase SOD1 that controls oxidative stress. Ninety-eight percent of ALS cases are of unknown causes. (Hum-molgen, 2001) The motor neurons affected by ALS are also known as anterior horn cells since they are located in the anterior, or front, of the spinal cord. The anterior horn cells are the nerves that send messages from the spinal cord to the muscles. The corticospinal tract is a series of structures that start in the brain and descend into the spinal cord to the anterior horn cells; it is part of the nervous system that sends messages regarding movement of the voluntary muscles. (Hole, 1981)
In ALS, the motor neurons deteriorate and eventually die causing the muscles to waste away from disuse. Weakness may begin in any or all muscles of the body with paresis usually beginning in a single muscle gro...