Urinary Alanine Excretor in a Huntington's Chorea Family

Hypothalamic dysfunction and neuroendocrine and metabolic alterations in Huntington's disease: clinical consequences and therapeutic implications

Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cognitive, psychiatric, behavioural and motor disturbances. Although the course of HD is also frequently complicated by unintended weight loss, sleep disturbances and autonomic nervous system dysfunction, the aetiology of these signs and symptoms remains largely unknown. In recent years, many novel findings from both animal and human studies have emerged that indicate considerable hypothalamic, endocrine and metabolic alterations in HD. However, a comprehensive overview of these findings is lacking and their precise clinical significance is far from clear. Therefore, in this review we attempt to put these recent developments in the field into perspective by integrating them with previous findings in a comprehensible manner, and by discussing their clinical relevance, with a special focus on body weight, sleep and autonomic functions in HD, which will also allow for the identification of future lines of research in this area.

Serum proteins in Huntington's chorea

Huntington's chorea is transmitted by a rare autosomal Mendelian dominant gene. Its hereditary transmission is facilitated by a late onset of the condition in many cases. Often the first signs are not seen until late in the reproductive period, so that it is not uncommon for a patient already to have produced a number of children before the diagnosis is made. On a theoretical basis, 50 per cent. of these offspring are at risk for carrying the gene and consequently for developing the condition themselves.