Rodent of the Week: Drug targets symptoms of Huntington’s disease

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Huntington’s disease is an incurable brain disorder caused by an inherited gene. Researchers are investigating ways in which early symptoms of the disease, such as memory loss and learning disabilities, may be alleviated.

Researchers at UC Irvine reported Thursday that drugs now under study to treat memory problems caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders, called ampakines, appear to work in mice with defects similar to Huntington’s disease. In the study, a mild ampakine treatment significantly increased the brain’s chemical processes for creating and storing memories in the mice. The effects could be linked to the drug’s ability to increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which the brain depends on for healthy functioning. Ampakines were co-discovered by neurobiologist Gary Lynch, an author of the new study.

So far, studies of ampakines in people with Alzheimer’s disease show they are well tolerated. The study is published in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

-- Shari Roan