Search results for "Aspartoacylase"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Aspartoacylase-lacZ knockin mice: an engineered model of Canavan disease.
2011
Canavan Disease (CD) is a recessive leukodystrophy caused by loss of function mutations in the gene encoding aspartoacylase (ASPA), an oligodendrocyte-enriched enzyme that hydrolyses N-acetylaspartate (NAA) to acetate and aspartate. The neurological phenotypes of different rodent models of CD vary considerably. Here we report on a novel targeted aspa mouse mutant expressing the bacterial β-Galactosidase (lacZ) gene under the control of the aspa regulatory elements. X-Gal staining in known ASPA expression domains confirms the integrity of the modified locus in heterozygous aspa lacZ-knockin (aspa(lacZ/+)) mice. In addition, abundant ASPA expression was detected in Schwann cells. Homozygous (…
Magnetic resonance imaging in juvenile Canavan disease
1993
We present a 2-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl with mild Canavan disease (CD). Aspartoacylase activity in skin fibroblasts was deficient. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain did not show the prominent leucodystrophy previously reported in CD, but there was a hyperintense signal from the lentiform nuclei and the heads of the caudate nuclei on the T2-weighted MR images. This suggests a specific vulnerability of the corpus striatum in these patients. In the older patient, the white matter became affected at the age of 6 years. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of white matter revealed a normal concentration of N-acetyl-L-aspartate (NAA) and a markedly decreased conce…
Aav-based gene therapy approaches for the treatment of canavan disease
2013
Background: The enzyme Aspartoacylase (ASPA) is normally expressed in oligodendrocytes, the myelin-forming cells in the central nervous system (CNS). ASPA gene mutations cause Canavan Disease (CD), a devastating neurological disorder characterized by psychomotor retardation, and spongiform degeneration of central white matter in affected children. The lack of ASPA leads to the enrichment in its substrate N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) which is a biomarker of CD. With no available treatment and a pathology restricted to the CNS CD has been trialled by gene therapy. However, gene replacement approaches using neurotropic recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors have proved unsuccessful. It …