behavior/neurological
• limb clasping is observed when mutants are suspended by the tail
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• mutants start to show impaired behavior on an accelerating rotarod starting at 6 months of age and progressive worsening over time
• mutants exhibit a more pronounced decline on the rotarod than Tg(Thy1-HSPB1*S135F)#Lvdb mutants
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• progressive decline in grip strength of all paws
• mutants show a more severe decline in grip strength than Tg(Thy1-HSPB1*S135F)#Lvdb mutants
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• mutants show hesitations in placing their paws and have increased hindpaw angles and decreased hindpaw print areas
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• mutants exhibit a disturbed gait from 6 months of age, needing on average twice the number of step cycles to cross the walkway than controls, resulting in a 50% reduction of stride length
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muscle
• gastrocnemius muscle has less acetylcholine receptor clusters per terminal axon
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• mutants exhibit atrophic muscle fibers in the gastrocnemius muscle accompanied by pyknotic nuclear clumps
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nervous system
• decrease in acetylated alpha-tubulin abundance in peripheral nerves of symptomatic mutants
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• motor axonal loss
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• sensorimotor axonal loss
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• mutants exhibit an increase of denervated neuromuscular junctions
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• decrease in the number of axons in distal parts of the sciatic nerve but not in the proximal parts
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• mutants exhibit a decrease in peak-to-peak amplitude of compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) at 6 months of age
• from 6 months of age, mutants show a decrease in baseline-to-peak amplitude of sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs), however SNAP latencies are unaltered, indicating that sensory loss is due to an axonal neuropathy
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limbs/digits/tail
• gastrocnemius muscle has less acetylcholine receptor clusters per terminal axon
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