Rachel Tesla, Hamilton Parker Wolf, Pin Xu, Jordan Drawbridge, Sandi Jo Estill, Paula Huntington, Latisha McDaniel, Whitney Knobbe, Aaron Burket, Stephanie Tran, Ruth Starwalt, Lorraine Morlock, Jacinth Naidoo, Noelle S Williams, Joseph M Ready, Steven L McKnight, Andrew A Pieper
We previously reported the discovery of P7C3, an aminopropyl carbazole having proneurogenic and neuroprotective properties in newborn neural precursor cells of the hippocampal dentate gyrus. We have further found that chemicals having efficacy in this in vivo screening assay also protect dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra following exposure to the neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine, a mouse model of Parkinson disease. Here, we provide evidence that an active analog of P7C3, known as P7C3A20, protects ventral horn spinal cord motor neurons from cell death in the G93A-SOD1 mutant mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)...
October 16, 2012: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America