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Transgenic mice expressing a Huntington's disease mutation are resistant to quinolinic acid-induced striatal excitotoxicity

Hansson, Oskar LU orcid ; Petersén, Åsa LU ; Leist, M ; Nicotera, P ; Castilho, Roger F and Brundin, Patrik LU (1999) In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96(15). p.8727-8732
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder presenting with chorea, dementia, and extensive striatal neuronal death. The mechanism through which the widely expressed mutant HD gene mediates a slowly progressing striatal neurotoxicity is unknown. Glutamate receptor-mediated excitotoxicity has been hypothesized to contribute to the pathogenesis of HD. Here we show that transgenic HD mice expressing exon 1 of a human HD gene with an expanded number of CAG repeats (line R6/1) are strongly protected from acute striatal excitotoxic lesions. Intrastriatal infusions of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist quinolinic acid caused massive striatal neuronal death in wild-type mice, but no damage in transgenic HD... (More)
Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder presenting with chorea, dementia, and extensive striatal neuronal death. The mechanism through which the widely expressed mutant HD gene mediates a slowly progressing striatal neurotoxicity is unknown. Glutamate receptor-mediated excitotoxicity has been hypothesized to contribute to the pathogenesis of HD. Here we show that transgenic HD mice expressing exon 1 of a human HD gene with an expanded number of CAG repeats (line R6/1) are strongly protected from acute striatal excitotoxic lesions. Intrastriatal infusions of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist quinolinic acid caused massive striatal neuronal death in wild-type mice, but no damage in transgenic HD littermates. The remarkable neuroprotection in transgenic HD mice occurred at a stage when they had not developed any neurological symptoms caused by the mutant HD gene. At this stage there was no change in the number of striatal neurons and astrocytes in untreated R6/1 mice, although the striatal volume was decreased by 17%. Moreover, transgenic HD mice had normal striatal levels of NMDA receptors, calbindin D28k (calcium buffer), superoxide dismutase activity (antioxidant enzyme), Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic protein), heat shock protein 70 (stress-induced anti-apoptotic protein), and citrate synthase activity (mitochondrial enzyme). We propose that the presence of exon 1 of the mutant HD gene induces profound changes in striatal neurons that render these cells resistant to excessive NMDA receptor activation. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
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Contribution to journal
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published
subject
in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
volume
96
issue
15
pages
8727 - 8732
publisher
National Academy of Sciences
external identifiers
  • pmid:10411943
  • scopus:0033587760
ISSN
1091-6490
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Psychiatry/Primary Care/Public Health (013240500), Translational Neuroendocrinology (013210010), Neuronal Survival (013212041)
id
fc0b8300-f06c-4776-8ff0-b2c812a9d01c (old id 1114745)
alternative location
http://www.pnas.org/content/96/15/8727.full
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:16:31
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2022-05-07 00:18:08
@article{fc0b8300-f06c-4776-8ff0-b2c812a9d01c,
  abstract     = {{Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder presenting with chorea, dementia, and extensive striatal neuronal death. The mechanism through which the widely expressed mutant HD gene mediates a slowly progressing striatal neurotoxicity is unknown. Glutamate receptor-mediated excitotoxicity has been hypothesized to contribute to the pathogenesis of HD. Here we show that transgenic HD mice expressing exon 1 of a human HD gene with an expanded number of CAG repeats (line R6/1) are strongly protected from acute striatal excitotoxic lesions. Intrastriatal infusions of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist quinolinic acid caused massive striatal neuronal death in wild-type mice, but no damage in transgenic HD littermates. The remarkable neuroprotection in transgenic HD mice occurred at a stage when they had not developed any neurological symptoms caused by the mutant HD gene. At this stage there was no change in the number of striatal neurons and astrocytes in untreated R6/1 mice, although the striatal volume was decreased by 17%. Moreover, transgenic HD mice had normal striatal levels of NMDA receptors, calbindin D28k (calcium buffer), superoxide dismutase activity (antioxidant enzyme), Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic protein), heat shock protein 70 (stress-induced anti-apoptotic protein), and citrate synthase activity (mitochondrial enzyme). We propose that the presence of exon 1 of the mutant HD gene induces profound changes in striatal neurons that render these cells resistant to excessive NMDA receptor activation.}},
  author       = {{Hansson, Oskar and Petersén, Åsa and Leist, M and Nicotera, P and Castilho, Roger F and Brundin, Patrik}},
  issn         = {{1091-6490}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{15}},
  pages        = {{8727--8732}},
  publisher    = {{National Academy of Sciences}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}},
  title        = {{Transgenic mice expressing a Huntington's disease mutation are resistant to quinolinic acid-induced striatal excitotoxicity}},
  url          = {{http://www.pnas.org/content/96/15/8727.full}},
  volume       = {{96}},
  year         = {{1999}},
}