Abstract
Catching primal functional changes in early, 'very far from disease onset' (VFDO) stages of Huntington's disease is likely to be the key to a successful therapy. Focusing on VFDO stages, we assessed neuronal microcircuits in premanifest Hdh150 knock-in mice. Employing in vivo two-photon Ca2+ imaging, we revealed an early pattern of circuit dysregulation in the visual cortex- one of the first regions affected in premanifest Huntington's disease - characterized by an increase in activity, an enhanced synchronicity and hyperactive neurons. These findings are accompanied by aberrations in animal behavior. We furthermore show that the anti-diabetic drug metformin diminishes aberrant Huntingtin protein load and fully restores both, early network activity patterns and behavioral aberrations. This network-centered approach reveals a critical window of vulnerability far before clinical manifestation and establishes metformin as a promising candidate for a chronic therapy starting early in premanifest Huntington's disease pathogenesis long before the onset of clinical symptoms.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e38744 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-32 |
Number of pages | 32 |
Journal | eLife |
Volume | 7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 Sep 2018 |
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Lambert, Jeremy
- Systems Medicine - Professor (Teaching and Research) & Neuropharmacology
Person: Academic