Jinho Kim, Wei Li, Jingjing Wang, Sergei V Baranov, Brianna E Heath, Jiaoying Jia, Yalikun Suofu, Oxana V Baranova, Xiaomin Wang, Timothy M Larkin, William R Lariviere, Diane L Carlisle, Robert M Friedlander
Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative brain disorder associated with uncontrolled body movements, cognitive decline, and reduced circulating melatonin levels. Melatonin is a potent antioxidant and exogenous melatonin treatment is neuroprotective in experimental HD models. In neurons, melatonin is exclusively synthesized in the mitochondrial matrix. Thus, we investigated the integrity of melatonin biosynthesis pathways in pineal and extrapineal brain areas in human HD brain samples, in the R6/2 mouse model of HD and in full-length mutant huntingtin knock-in cells...
September 18, 2023: Journal of Pineal Research