DECREASED RECEPTOR-BINDING SITES FOR KAINIC ACID IN BRAINS OF PATIENTS WITH HUNTINGTONS-DISEASE

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 16  (2) , 155-162
Abstract
The specific binding of (3H)kainic acid (KA) to high and low-affinity receptor sites was assayed in postmortem samples from the brains of patients affected with Huntington''s disease (HD) and age-matched controls. Treatment of rat brain with conditions that closely mimic the temperature gradient occurring in postmortem human brain only slightly but not significantly decreased receptor binding by 12 h after death. In HD brains, total specific binding of (3H)KA was reduced in the caudate nucleus by 51%, putamen by 77% and frontal cortex by 47%. Specific binding to the high-affinty site was virtually undetectable in the caudate nucleus and was reduced by 90% in the putamen from HD brains. No significant alterations in specific binding of (3H)KA were noted in the insular or temporal cortex, hippocampus,/or cerebellum. Losses of KA receptor binding were mainly localized to those regions of the HD brain that are most severely affected by neuronal degeneration and the high-affinity receptor site appeared more affected.

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