SOD1 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: In particular, MT-III levels are reduced in the gray matter of the lumbar spinal cord in the late phase of ALS (Hozumi et al., 2008) and MT-III deletion significantly reduces G93A SOD1 mice survival causing a pronounced loss of MNs and, in turn, accelerating the decline of motor functions (Puttaparthi et al., 2002).