Skeletal Muscle Denervation In Huntington’s Disease? Maybe Not.

Check out our recent publication with the laboratory of Dr. Robert J. Talmadge in Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports. The article is a follow up to our 2017 paper in the Journal of Neuroscience and examines the expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits in skeletal muscle from the transgenic R6/2 model of Huntington’s disease. We previously showed that neuromuscular junctions in R6/2 muscle are reduced in size. In the recent study, we found that the expression of nAChR subunit-ε (Chrne) is reduced in the R6/2 muscle. This suggests that reduced Chrne expression may be related to neuromuscular junction atrophy in Huntington’s disease and possibly other conditions. It is always great to work with our collaborators. Thanks Dr. Robert Talmadge.