title: Reduced high-affinity glutamate uptake sites in the brains of patients with Huntington's disease.
abstract: The binding of D-[3H]aspartic acid to the high-affinity glutamate uptake system was studied in membrane preparations of postmortem brains from controls and Huntington's disease (HD) subjects. The groups were matched for age and postmortem delay. A large (60-72%) and significant reduction in D-[3H]aspartate binding was observed in both the caudate nucleus and putamen, but not in the frontal cortex of the HD brains. The loss of striatal D-[3H]aspartate binding may reflect a loss of the high-affinity glutamate uptake system contained on the terminals of corticostriatal afferents. In contrast, the binding of [3H]paroxetine to the serotonin uptake system was marginally increased in the caudate nucleus and unchanged in the putamen. It is suggested that the reduction of high-affinity glutamate uptake sites may contribute to the production of the striatal lesion in HD.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cross
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Slater
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Reynolds
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism; D005971:Glutamates / Q000378:metabolism*; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017374:Paroxetine; D010880:Piperidines / Q000378:metabolism; D011699:Putamen / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005971:Glutamates; D010880:Piperidines; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D017374:Paroxetine