RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (RSPI)

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A new Lynch abstract:

Brief Ampakine Treatments Slow the Progression of Huntington's Disease Phenotypes in R6/2 Mice.
Simmons DA, Mehta RA, Lauterborn JC, Gall CM, Lynch G
Neurobiol Dis. 2010 Oct 23;

Daily, systemic injections of a positive AMPA-type glutamate receptor modulator (ampakine) have been shown to reduce synaptic plasticity defects in rodent models of aging and early-stage Huntington's Disease (HD). Here we report that long-term ampakine treatment markedly slows the progression of striatal neuropathology and locomotor dysfunction in the R6/2 HD mouse model. Remarkably, these effects were produced by an ampakine, CX929, with a short half-life. Injected once daily for 4-7 weeks, the compound increased protein levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in neocortex and striatum of R6/2 but not wild-type mice. Moreover, ampakine treatments prevented the decrease in total striatal area, blocked the loss of striatal DARPP-32 immunoreactivity and reduced the area of intranuclear huntingtin aggregates in R6/2 striatum by 36%. The CX929 treatments also markedly improved motor performance of R6/2 mice on several measures (rotarod, vertical pole descent) but did not influence body weight or lifespan. These findings describe a minimally invasive, pharmacologically plausible strategy for treatment of HD and, potentially, other neuropathological diseases.