Rilmenidine Treatment in SOD1-ALS Mice

All animal experiments conformed to the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council published Code of Practice and were approved by the Howard Florey Institute Animal Ethics Committee (permit number 13–038). Transgenic SOD1^G93A mice (B6.Cg-Tg(SOD1*G93A)1Gur/J line, stock number 002726) were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME, USA) and maintained on a C57BL/6 background. Starting from postnatal day 60 (P60), male SOD1^G93A mice received intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of 10 mg/kg rilmenidine or Gibco Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS, Life Technologies, 14190) vehicle solution 4-times a week as previously described [34 (link)]. Rilmenidine was freshly prepared in sterile DPBS before each injection. The experimenter was blind to the treatment groups throughout the study.