Department of Medical Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Novum, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden.
Male mice with inactivated liver X receptor (LXR) beta suffer from adult-onset motor neuron degeneration. By 7 months of age, motor coordination is impaired, and this condition is associated with lipid accumulation and loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord, together with axonal atrophy and astrogliosis. Several of these features are reminiscent of the neuropathological signs of chronic motor neuron disease such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Because the LXRs are important for cholesterol and lipid metabolism, we speculate that absence of LXRbeta leads to pathological accumulation of sterols and lipids that may themselves be neurotoxic or may modulate intracellular pathways and thereby predispose motor neurons to degeneration.