Substantia Nigra γ‐Aminobutyric Acid Receptors in Huntington's Disease

Abstract
The specific binding of [3H]GABA to nigral GABA receptors was studied in postmortem brains from controls and patients with Huntington''s disease (HD). A specific increase in the number of high-affinity binding sites for [3H]GABA was observed in HD patients, analogous to changes observed in rat substantia nigra [3H]GABA binding after striatal kainic acid (KA) lesion. The results provide further support for the striatal KA lesion in the rat as an animal model of HD. The proposed therapeutic potential of GABA agonista in HD are discussed.