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The Journal of Neuroscience, November 1, 2001, 21(21):8473-8481
Huntingtin Aggregate-Associated Axonal Degeneration is an Early
Pathological Event in Huntington's Disease Mice
He
Li1, 3,
Shi-Hua
Li1,
Zhao-Xue
Yu1,
Peggy
Shelbourne2, and
Xiao-Jiang
Li1
1 Department of Genetics, Emory University School of
Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, 2 Division of Molecular
Genetics, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of
Glasgow, Glasgow G11 6NU, United Kingdom, and 3 Department
of Histology and Embryology, Tongji Medical School, Huazhong University
of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China
Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by the selective loss
of striatal projection neurons. In early stages of HD,
neurodegeneration preferentially occurs in the lateral globus pallidus
(LGP) and substantia nigra (SN), two regions in which the axons of
striatal neurons terminate. Here we report that in mice expressing
full-length mutant huntingtin and modeling early stages of HD, neuropil
aggregates form preferentially in the LGP and SN. The progressive
formation of these neuropil aggregates follows intranuclear
accumulation of mutant huntingtin and becomes prominent from 11 to 27 months after birth. Neuropil aggregates, but no intranuclear
inclusions, were observed in the LGP and SN, suggesting that huntingtin
aggregates are formed in the axons of striatal projection neurons. In
the LGP and SN, we observed degenerated axons in which huntingtin aggregates were associated with dark, swollen organelles that resemble
degenerated mitochondria. Neuritic aggregates also form in cultured
striatal neurons expressing mutant huntingtin, block protein transport
in neurites, and cause neuritic degeneration before nuclear DNA
fragmentation occurs. These findings suggest that the early
neuropathology of HD originates from axonal dysfunction and
degeneration associated with huntingtin aggregates.
Key words:
Huntingtin; polyglutamine; axon; degeneration; transport; mitochondria
Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/01/21218473-09$05.00/0
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