Synaptophysin expression in the striatum in Huntington's disease

Summary This immunohistochemical study compares the expression of synaptophysin (SYP) in the striatum in Huntington's disease (HD) with that of calcineurin (CaN), a marker for striatal medium-sized spinous neurons. As compared to controls, in the HD striatum there was a significant loss of SYP immunoreactivity with residual staining displaying an inhomogeneous pattern, which strikingly resembled that of CaN. Our results may indicate that there is a synaptic loss in the striatum with HD and this is most likely due to loss of medium-sized spinous neurons characteristic of this disease.