Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) is a neurodegenerative disord
er of unknown cause characterized by selective loss of both upper and lower
motor neurons. Whether neuronal death in sALS is due to apoptosis has so f
ar not been clarified. In this study, the expression and distribution patte
rns of pro- and anti-apoptotic bcl-2 family members as well as the executio
ner caspase-3 were investigated in post-mortem CNS tissue of eight sALS pat
ients and seven age-matched controls. Sparse motor neurons were immunoreact
ive for bcl-2, bax, bak, and CM1 on serial sections through the spinal cord
and motor cortex of individual sALS patients and controls. However, there
was no obvious difference in the numbers of immunoreactive JR) neurons betw
een the two groups. The study did not find evidence for apoptosis as a majo
r mechanism of motor neuronal cell death in sALS.