Variations in mtDNA are specifically associated with disease phenotypes with specific sequence alterations in mitochondrial components that may generate measurable effects on bioenergetic and other functional aspects of the organelle, such as a decrease in respiratory function [153].
Nevertheless, our study confirmed the finding that ALS is associated hypolipidemia prior to the onset of symptoms and a decrease in respiratory function [8], [10] and showed a sex difference in the metabolic abnormalities of ALS mice.
Previous studies have also shown that thickening of either the bronchial reticular basement membrane or the airway wall correlates with disease severity, a decrease in respiratory function, and airway hyperresponsiveness in patients with asthma [ 9- 13].
The strongest indirect evidence for adverse long-term pollution effects on lung function decline in adults comes from a single follow-up study demonstrating that improvements in PM10 exposure over a period of 11 years attenuated the age-related decrease in respiratory function [ 8].
Acrolein is considered highly acutely toxic, is a known sensory and upper respiratory irritant, and causes changes in respiratory function such as decrease in respiratory rate, rhythm, and amplitude [ Gomes and Meek 2002; World Health Organization (WHO) 1992].
Therefore, the impairment in respiratory function observed in DMSXL mice might have a central origin in decreased respiratory drive, or a peripheral origin such as weakness of the diaphragmatic muscles, or both.
