Which One Would You Choose?-Investigation of Widely Used Housekeeping Genes and Proteins in the Spinal Cord of an Animal Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains a progressive neurodegenerative disease, lacking effective causal therapies. The Wobbler mouse model harboring a spontaneous autosomal recessive mutation in the vacuolar protein sorting associated protein (Vps54), has emerged as a valuable model for investigating ALS pathophysiology and potential treatments. This model exhibits cellular and phenotypic parallels to human ALS, including protein aggregation, microglia and astrocyte activation, as well as characteristic disease progression at distinct stages. Exploring the underlying pathomechanisms and identifying therapeutic targets requires a comprehensive analysis of gene and protein expression. In this study, we examined the expression of three well-established housekeeping genes and proteins-calnexin, ß-actin, and ßIII-tubulin-in the cervical spinal cord of the Wobbler model. These candidates were selected based on their demonstrated stability across various systems like animal models or cell culture. Calnexin, an integral protein of the endoplasmic reticulum, ß-actin, a structural component of the cytoskeleton, and ß-tubulin III, a component of microtubules, were quantitatively assessed using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for gene expression and Western blotting for protein expression. Our results revealed no significant differences in the expression of