What is Spinal Muscular Atrophy?

What is Spinal Muscular Atrophy?

Spinal muscular atrophy is a progressive genetic disease which causes weakness and loss of movement.

It is caused by a defect in a gene more specifically the SMN1 gene, which is called the survival motor neuron 1 gene which makes survival motor neuron proteins, these are vital for the maintenance of specialised motor neurones, which are responsible for sending messages from the brain to the body via the spinal cord. Without this survival motor neuron protein the motor neurone cells die prematurely meaning messages to tell you to perform a specific function aren't sent, resulting in weakness and loss of movement.

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