Neurotrophins regulate function and survival of many populations of neurons in the central nervous system and their deficiencies may play a pivotal role in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. This application aims to examine the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease (HD) in which striatal medium spiny neurons are selectively lost. HD is caused by expansion of CAG repeats in the HD gene that encodes huntingtin. Striatal neurons express the BDNF receptor, TrkB, but do not express BDNF which mainly arrives at the striatum by anterograde transport from cortical neurons. It has been shown that the HD mutation reduces the BDNF level in the striatum by inhibiting BDNF gene transcription and anterograde transport. This project will test the hypothesis that the reduced striatal BDNF supply is relevant to the pathogenesis of HD by examining the role of TrkB signaling in the normal function and survival of striatal neurons, by determining whether a reduction in TrkB signaling sensitizes striatal neurons to the toxic effect of mutant huntingtin, and by testing whether increasing the striatal BDNF level delays the onset of HD. Mouse mutants in which the trkB gene is specifically deleted in the striatum will be used to examine whether TrkB signaling is required for the normal function and survival of striatal neurons. One trkB hypomorphic allele will be used to produce HD transgenic mice that express TrkB at 100% or 25% of the normal amount. These mutant mice will then be used to determine whether striatal neurons expressing mutant huntingtin are more dependent on neurotrophic protection. Finally, the possibility that BDNF overexpression in cortical neurons delays the onset of HD will be investigated in HD and BDNF double transgenic mice. This research may lead to discovery of the BDNF-TrkB pathway as a promising target for designing effective treatments of Huntington's disease.
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