Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Patients with Inherited and Sporadic Motor Neuron Degeneration

We describe evidence of fatty liver disease in patients with forms of motor neuron degeneration with both genetic and sporadic etiology compared to controls. A group of 13 patients with motor neuron disease underwent liver imaging and laboratory analysis. The cohort included five patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia, four with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), three with familial ALS, and one with primary lateral sclerosis. A genetic mutation was reported in nine of the thirteen motor neuron disease (MND) patients. Fatty liver disease was detected in 10 of 13 (77%) MND patients via magnetic resonance spectroscopy, with an average dome intrahepatic triacylglycerol content of 17% (range 2-63%, reference <= 5.5%). Liver ultrasound demonstrated evidence of fatty liver disease in 6 of the 13 (46%) patients, and serum liver function testing revealed significantly elevated alanine aminotransferase levels in MND patients compared to age-matched controls. Fatty liver disease may represent a non-neuronal clinical component of various forms of MND.