TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Spinal Muscular Atrophies A1 - Amato, Anthony A. A1 - Russell, James A. PY - 2015 T2 - Neuromuscular Disorders, 2e AB - The spinal muscular atrophies (SMAs) have been historically conceptualized as hereditary disorders preferentially affecting anterior horn cells and selected motor cranial nerve nuclei.1 As in all disorders caused or influenced by genetics, molecular biology has served to confound as much as clarify the nosology. We have become very aware that the historical boundaries of hereditary neuromuscular disease are inaccurate. Part of this confusion arises from phenotypic overlap. For example, although lower motor neuron (LMN) morbidity dominates most SMA phenotypes, upper motor neuron (UMN) features may occur in some forms of distal SMA. Conversely, hereditary spastic paraplegia is a predominantly UMN disorder but may have notable LMN features in some genotypes. Even more damaging to the historical nosology of hereditary neuromuscular disease is the discovery that mutations of a single gene may produce variable phenotypes that have been historically represented as two or more diseases (Table 8-1). SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/19 UR - neurology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1115657296 ER -