Astrocytes and Huntington’s Disease |
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| Authors: | Baljit S Khakh Michael V Sofroniew |
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| Institution: | †Departments of Physiology, ‡Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of
California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1751, United States |
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| Abstract: | In
this Viewpoint, we summarize and discuss the recent serendipitous
discovery of an astrocyte Kir4.1 potassium channel dysfunction in
two mouse models of Huntington’s disease (HD). Restoration
of Kir4.1 channels within astrocytes in vivo attenuated neuronal dysfunction,
some aspects of motor dysfunction and increased survival time in a
HD mouse model. Overall, the data show that aspects of altered neuronal
excitability associated with HD may be secondary to changes in astrocyte-mediated
K+ homeostasis, thereby revealing a new striatal neural
microcircuit mechanism in HD, and Kir4.1 channels and astrocytes as
potential therapeutic targets for drug development. |
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| Keywords: | Huntington’ s disease astrocyte striatum potassium channel microcircuit basal ganglia Kir4 1 |
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