Cortical hyperexcitability and noradrenaline deficiency in ALS

This new publication by Scekic-Zahirovic et al. shows that cortical hyperexcitability is associated with early deficits in phase-amplitude theta-gamma coupling (PAC) and decreased noradrenaline (NA) in the motor cortex of ALS patients and in models. PAC deficits could be ameliorated by administration of a synthetic NA precursor in models. These results suggest that PAC could serve as an alternative indicator of cortical hyperexcitability in ALS, and warrant further investigation of NA signaling and its link to this hyperexcitability.