[Significance of Nogo-A expression of atrophic muscle fibers in diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis].

To investigate significance of Nogo-A in atrophic muscle fibers in diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).Forty cases which were diagnosed definitely by clinical, pathological or DNA analysis were included. All of the cases underwent muscle biopsies in order to carry out Nogo-A immunostaining.Nogo-A expression was detected in the atrophic muscle fibers but in either neurogenic disease or myogenic disease, the atrophic muscle fibers demonstrated expression of Nogo-A. As compared with the stainings of NADH-TR and ATPase, it was showed that Nogo-A positive fibers were mainly type I fibers.Our results show that the presence of Nogo-A in diseased human muscle biopsies is not limited to ALS, therefore it cannot be the standard for ALS diagnosis.