Huntington's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Huntington's Disease, including details on genetics, causes, symptoms, treatment.

Intravenous administration of human neural stem cells induces functional recovery in Huntington's disease rat model.

Lee ST, Chu K, Park JE, Lee K, Kang L, Kim SU, Kim M

Department of Neurology, Clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, 28, Yongon-Dong, Chongro-Gu, Seoul 110-744, South Korea.

An animal model induced by striatal quinolinic acid (QA) injection shows ongoing striatal degeneration mimicking Huntington's disease. To study the migratory ability and the neuroprotective effect of human neural stem cells (NSCs) in this model, we transplanted NSCs (5 x 10(6)) or saline intravenously at 7 days after unilateral QA injection. NSCs-group exhibited the reduced apomorphine-induced rotation and the reduced striatal atrophy compared to the control. PCR analysis for the human-specific ERV-3 gene supported an evidence of the engraftment of human NSCs in the rat brain. X-gal+ cells were found in and around the damaged striatum and migrated NSCs differentiated into neurons and glias. This result indicates that intravenously injected human NSCs can migrate into the striatal lesion, decrease the following striatal atrophy, and induce long-term functional improvement in a glutamate toxicity-induced striatal degeneration model.

Published 1 June 2005 in Neurosci Res, 52(3): 243-9.
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