Lipid metabolism is profoundly dysregulated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), yet the lipid composition of the white matter, where the myelinated axons of motor neurons are located, remains uncharacterised. We aimed to comprehensively characterise how myelin is altered in ALS by assessing its lipid and protein composition. We isolated white matter from the motor cortex from post-mortem tissue of ALS patients (n = 8 sporadic ALS cases and n = 6 familial ALS cases) and age- and sex-matched controls (n = 8) and conducted targeted lipidomic analyses, qPCR for gene expression of relevant lipid metabolising enzymes and Western blotting for myelin proteins. We also quantified myelin density by using spectral confocal reflectance microscopy (SCoRe). Whilst myelin protein composition was similar in ALS and control tissue, both the lipid levels and the expression of their corresponding enzymes were dysregulated, highlighting altered lipid metabolism in the white matter as well as a likely change in myelin composition. Altered myelin composition could contribute to motor neuron dysfunction, and this highlights how oligodendrocytes may play a critical role in ALS pathogenesis.
Keywords: ALS; lipid metabolism; myelin.