Recent study conducted on mice has given more insight into how and why Huntington's disease attacks and destroys certain brain cells in human beings.The study was published in the Journal of Cell Biology."We are excited about this result because it may explain why the patient gets the disease in this area of the brain called the striatum," said Srinivasa Subramaniam, Department of Neuroscience at Scripps Research-Florida.According to the study, a toxic protein linked to Huntington's disease can move from neuron to neuron through a nanotube tunnel whose construction is initiated by a protein called Rhes.People with Huntington's disease inherit a damaged protein that is somehow complicit in destroying brain cells. Scientists discovered this protein in 1993 but are still piecing together its role in this degenerative disease.Scans show Huntington's disease brains are shrunken and degraded. As the neurons deteriorate, people lose motor control, they can have emotional problems and their ..
