Unravelling and Exploiting Astrocyte Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewResearchpeer-review

  • Baljit S. Khakh
  • Vahri Beaumont
  • Roger Cachope
  • Ignacio Munoz-Sanjuan
  • Goldman, Steven Alan
  • Rosemarie Grantyn

Astrocytes are abundant within mature neural circuits and are involved in brain disorders. Here, we summarize our current understanding of astrocytes and Huntington's disease (HD), with a focus on correlative and causative dysfunctions of ion homeostasis, calcium signaling, and neurotransmitter clearance, as well as on the use of transplanted astrocytes to produce therapeutic benefit in mouse models of HD. Overall, the data suggest that astrocyte dysfunction is an important contributor to the onset and progression of some HD symptoms in mice. Additional exploration of astrocytes in HD mouse models and humans is needed and may provide new therapeutic opportunities to explore in conjunction with neuronal rescue and repair strategies.

Original languageEnglish
JournalTrends in Neurosciences
Volume40
Issue number7
Pages (from-to)422-437
Number of pages16
ISSN0166-2236
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2017

    Research areas

  • Journal Article, Review

ID: 185946358