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Huntington’s Disease and Neural Transplantation: GABAA Receptor Changes in the Basal Ganglia in Huntington’s Disease in the Human Brain and in the Quinolinic Acid Lesioned Rat Model of the Disease Following Fetal Neuron Transplants

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Neurotransmitters in the Human Brain

Part of the book series: Advances in Behavioral Biology ((ABBI,volume 43))

Abstract

A particularly exciting and novel development in the treatment of neurological diseases is the suggestion from both animal and human studies that neural grafts may provide an effective means of treating chemospecific neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease etc. In recent years neural grafting in degenerative diseases of the nervous system has emerged from the realm of the theoretical to that of the practical. In Parkinson’s disease, autografts of adrenal medulla cells to the caudate nucleus of the brain have been shown to produce improvements in the clinical signs of the disease (Madrazo et al., 1987) and patients with idiopathic and MPTP induced Parkinson’s disease have shown improvements following human fetal neural transplants (Freed et al., 1992; Spencer et al., 1992; Widner et al., 1992). Also, neural grafts of embryonic striatal neurons have been shown to partially restore some neurochemical deficits and to ameliorate behavioural and locomotor impairment in animal models of Huntington’s disease (Isacson et al., 1984, 1985, 1986; Hantraye et al., 1992). These findings and others have led to the Suggestion that neural transplantation may offer the prospect of a viable strategy for structural repair in Huntington’s disease (Dunnett and Svendsen, 1993).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Anatomy and School of Medicine, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    R. L. M. Faull, H. J. Waldvogel, L. F. B. Nicholson & M. N. Williams

  2. Departments of Pharmacology and School of Medicine, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    M. Dragunow

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  1. R. L. M. Faull
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  2. H. J. Waldvogel
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  3. L. F. B. Nicholson
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  4. M. N. Williams
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  5. M. Dragunow
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    David J. Tracey  & George Paxinos  & 

  2. University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Jonathan Stone

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Faull, R.L.M., Waldvogel, H.J., Nicholson, L.F.B., Williams, M.N., Dragunow, M. (1995). Huntington’s Disease and Neural Transplantation: GABAA Receptor Changes in the Basal Ganglia in Huntington’s Disease in the Human Brain and in the Quinolinic Acid Lesioned Rat Model of the Disease Following Fetal Neuron Transplants. In: Tracey, D.J., Paxinos, G., Stone, J. (eds) Neurotransmitters in the Human Brain. Advances in Behavioral Biology, vol 43. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1853-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1853-2_11

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