Evidence of impaired macroautophagy in human degenerative cervical myelopathy.

ABSTRACT: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a common progressive disease of the spinal cord which can cause tetraplegia. Despite its prevalence, few studies have investigated the pathophysiology of DCM. Macroautophagy is a cellular process which degrades intracellular contents and its disruption is thought to contribute to many neurodegenerative diseases. The present study tests the hypothesis that macroautophagy is impaired in DCM. To address this, we utilised a collection of post-mortem cervical spinal cord samples and investigated seven DCM cases and five human controls. Immunohistochemical staining was used to visualise proteins involved in autophagy. This demonstrated significantly reduced numbers of LC3 puncta in cases versus controls (p = 0.0424). Consistent with reduced autophagy, we

SUBMITTER: Smith SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9279443 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature