new therapeutic target for Huntington’s disease

Research from Western University has revealed a possible new target for treating movement disorders such as Huntington’s disease (HD) and Parkinson’s disease. Stephen Ferguson, PhD, a scientist at Western’s Robarts Research Institute, and Fabiola Ribeiro, PhD, of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil found a definite improvement in motor behaviours in a HD mouse model when one of the major neurotransmitters in the brain, called Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 (mGluR5) was deleted. The research is published online in Human Molecular Genetics.