Exam3Lec4IntrotoMovementDisorders (HD/PD) Flashcards
What is Huntington’s disease?
Neurodegenerative disease known for its prominent clinical feature of chorea
Behavioral and Cognitive Changes are also prominent
What is the pattern of inhertance for HD and the mutation?
Autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance
Mutation on chromosome 4 is an expansion of a polyglutamine repeat (>39 repeats of CAG) on HTT gene
only 1 mutatuted gene passed on=can get disease
What are 3 characteristics of HD in terms of movement?
- Often: hyperkinetic, choreiform
- Later in disease: Dystonia, rigidity, akinesia
- Juvenile onseit (<20 yrs old): Rigidity, bradykinesia, tremor
looks like PD when young
dystonia: abnoral posture due to sustained muscle contraction or going from 1 abnormal posture to anothert in a slower writing twisting manner. Slower and stiffer movement
What is the average age onset and avg age survival for HD?
Average age onset = 40 years
Average survival 15-20 years although varies
What is the prognosis for HD in early, middle, and advances stages?
- Early: mood changes and subtle cognitive issues
- Middle stage: Chorea
- Advanced stages: dementia and parkinsonism
What are 4 additional clinical features present with HD?
- Motor sequencing- fine motor ( all motr fxn messed up, not just chorea)
- Bradykinesia- slow movements
- Dysarthria/Dysphagia- speech/swallow
- Gait instability and falls
Leading cause of nursing home placement
More difficult to treat (PT/OT/ST)
What are 3 psyhiatric issues present with HD?
- Mood disurbances: depresseion, anxiety, mania
- OCD: Mild obessiveness can be seen
- Psychosis: Hallucination rare, Delusion more common but still rare
What percentage of HD patients experience depression? These patients with depression also have what risk?
40%. Suicidal attempt is at 7.3%-12%,
which is greater than average risk
depression is not correlated with disease severity
What are 6 behaviors seen with HD?
- Outbursts of temper
- Fits of despondency
- Jealousy
- Promiscuity/Paraphilias
- Alcholism
- Smoking
lots of impulsivity
Neuropathology of HD
thin ribbon of caudate and deep sulci
marked atrophy of the caudate and putamen (striatum)
Which neurons are the 1st to degenerate and result in chorea early on in HD?
ON EXAM
Striatal, medium sized neurons, that are gabaergic and enkelaphenergic than project from the putamen (striatum) to the GPexternal.
ON EXAM
Early chorea in HD is associated with loss of ___ ___ spiny neurons
striatal GABA/Enk
Pathological examination of a case of early chorea in HD showed loss of projection from ____ to ____+
putamen to GPex
early in diseae, loose proj to GPex
a case of juvenile HD (with rigidity and dystonia) showed loss of projections from ____ to ____
putamen to both GPex and GPint
Genetics of HD (3 points)
- Autosomal dominant
- Each child has 50% chance inheritance
- CAG repeat or expansion-> leads to excessive glutamine in Huntington protein
What is the normal, borderline low abnomal, and abnormal amount of CAG repeats?
- Normal: CAG 10-35
- Borderline (intermediate zone): CAG 27-35
- Low abnormal: CAG 35-39
- Abnormal: CAG >40
for the borderline zone it can expand if passed by male. so they can pass it on to their child and expand the number of repeats, this is not necessarily a mutation
You are more likely to develop HD with how many CAG repeats?
39 or more
Expansion of CAG repeats can be seen in what?
spermatogenesis
* Greatest expansion was seen in DNA from sperm (> 80 repeats)
* The process of meiosis during spermatogenesis is associated with instability in the repeat length
for picture: Analysis of number of repeats in sperm DNA was compared to repeats in lymphoblasts in 5 HD carriers
CAG repeats may expand in ____ via meiosis during ____
paternal transmission, spermatogenesis
What are 4 sympotomatic therapeutics used for HD?
- Anti-depressants (serontonin uptake inhibitors, tricyclics)
- Carbamazepine for aggressive outbursts
- Neuroleptics (butryophenones-haloperidol or phenothiazines-chlorpromazine) for control of chorea
- Monoamine depletors (tetrabenazine)
neuroleptics are dop receptor antags
What are neuroprotective agent therapeutics used for HD, but was later shown to be futile?
CoQ10,creatine
Has cell-based therapy for HD been successful?
NO, Grafting of human fetal striatal cells to patients with HD has been disappointing
What type of research has opened new avenues for therapeutic applications in the treatment of HD?
RNA Interference (RNAi)
RNA interference is a natural gene silencing mechanism mediated by double-stranded RNA
What research was done to prove RNA Interference as a promising therapeutic therapy?
mutant HTT expression was silenced in mice.
1. HD gene could be turned on and off
2. When the gene was “on” cellular inclusions of Htt protein and motor dysfunction developed
3. When the gene was “turned off” inclusions disappeared and behavioral changes improved.
silence the gene=prevent the disease from occuring