Blood pressure measurements in a transgenic SOD1-G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive loss of motor neurons, but non-motor manifestations including autonomic dysfunction have been reported. To better understand the autonomic involvement in ALS we measured blood pressure (BP) changes. We evaluated blood pressure (BP) in a transgenic (TG) SOD1-G93A mouse model of ALS. BP was recorded in awake mice from six to 19 weeks of age by the tail-cuff method. TG mice (n =15) had significantly elevated BP compared to their wild-type (WT) siblings (n =14) even prior to the clinical appearance of motor dysfunction (at age 10-11 weeks, p =0.026). BP gradually decreased in TG mice but not in WT mice from age 10-11 weeks until the advanced stages of the disease (p for trend <0.002). The results indicate impairment of cardiovascular control in this ALS model.