To Örebro University

Key points:

• How defects in muscle contractile function contribute to weakness in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were systematically investigated.
• Weakness in whole muscles from late stage SOD1^G93A mice was explained by muscle atrophy as seen by reduced mass and maximal force.
• On the other hand, surviving single muscle fibres in late stage SOD1^G93A have preserved intracellular Ca²⁺ handling, normal force-generating capacity and increased fatigue resistance.
• These intriguing findings provide a substrate for therapeutic interventions to potentiate muscular capacity and delay the progression of the ALS phenotype.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a motor neuron disease characterized by degeneration and loss of motor neurons, leading to severe muscle weakness and paralysis. The SOD1^G93A mouse model of ALS displays motor neuron degeneration and a phenotype consistent with human ALS. The purpose of this study was to determine whether muscle weakness in ALS can be attributed to impaired intrinsic force generation in skeletal muscles. In the current study, motor neuron loss and decreased force were evident in whole flexor digitorum brevis (FDB) muscles of mice in the late stage of disease (125–150 days of age). However, in intact single muscle fibres, specific force, tetanic myoplasmic free [Ca²⁺] ([Ca²⁺]_i), and resting [Ca²⁺]_i remained unchanged with disease. Fibre-type distribution was maintained in late-stage SOD1^G93A FDB muscles, but remaining muscle fibres displayed greater fatigue resistance compared to control and showed increased expression of myoglobin and mitochondrial respiratory chain proteins that are important determinants of fatigue resistance. Expression of genes central to both mitochondrial biogenesis and muscle atrophy where increased, suggesting that atrophic and compensatory adaptive signalling occurs simultaneously within the muscle tissue. These results support the hypothesis that muscle weakness in SOD1^G93A is primarily attributed to neuromuscular degeneration and not intrinsic muscle fibre defects. In fact, surviving muscle fibres displayed maintained adaptive capacity with an exercise training-like phenotype, which suggests that compensatory mechanisms are activated that can function to delay disease progression.