Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (Nov 2022)

Association of cerebral spinal fluid copper imbalance in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

  • Qiao Yi Chen,
  • Peng Wu,
  • Ting Wen,
  • Xing Qin,
  • Ronghua Zhang,
  • Rui Jia,
  • Jiaoting Jin,
  • Fangfang Hu,
  • Xiaoge Xie,
  • Jingxia Dang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.970711
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

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A plethora of environmental risk factors has been persistently implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), including metal/metalloids. This study aimed to examine potential associations between cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) metal/metalloids and ALS risks. CSF concentrations of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), manganese (Mn), and iron (Fe) in ALS (spinal- and bulbar-onset) patients and controls were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results from this study revealed marked differences between control, spinal-onset, and bulbar-onset groups. We report that Cu levels were lower in the ALS and spinal-onset groups compared to the control group. Ni level were higher in the spinal-onset group compared to the control and bulbar-onset groups. In addition, associations between CSF metal/metalloid levels with disease severity, sex, and serum triglycerides were also examined to broach the potential relevance of neurotoxic metal/metalloids in ALS disease heterogeneity.

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