Content - Lecture 8-12

Huntington Disease

  • Huntington’s Chorea: movements that can’t be controlled, called chorea
    • Also brain damage and affects movement, cognition, and behavior
  • Huntintin - >36 safe, 36-39 risk, 40 will have
    • CAG repeats (glutamine)
  • Over cleavage, forming Huntington’s Neural Inclusions
  • Damage to striatal circuits
    • indirect circuit damage thought to be responsible for chorea and control
    • Direct circuit damage thought to be responsible for fine motor control and rigidity
      Parkinson Disease
  • Bradykinesia, signature turn
  • SNCA gene, alpha-synuclein protein, and Lewy bodies
  • Death of dopaminurgic neurons in SNc
  • Less excitation to direct and indirect, net inhibition
    Alzheimer Disease and other dementias
  • Mild cognitive impairment, severe cognitive impairment -> dementias
  • Alzheimer: amyloid plaque or tau
    • leads to
      Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
  • Upper/lower motor neurons
  • do we even know??
  • Degradation
    Review and synthesis of concepts in Section 2