Motor Neurone Disease Information Brochure

... Motor Neurone Disease The Cause of the Disease: Motor Neurone Disease, or MND is caused by the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain that control the muscles. Motor Neurone Disease is broken into three main types: * Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common type and affects about half of the people with MND. It mainly causes muscle weakness and stiffness. * Progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) affects around a quarter of people diagnosed with MND. This causes muscle weakness, wasting, and twitching. * Progressive bulbar palsy affects the final quarter of people with MND. This makes speaking and swallowing difficult. Sufferers may inherit the disease or it may occur sporadically. Some people with familial MND have the disorder because of a mutation in one particular gene. A mutation is an error in the genetic code which causes a gene to work abnormally. This gene is called the superoxide dismutase 1 gene

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