brain sciences Review Striatal Vulnerability in Huntington’s Disease: Neuroprotection Versus Neurotoxicity Ryoma Morigaki 1,2,3 and Satoshi Goto 1,2,* 1 Parkinson’s Disease and Dystonia Research Center, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan;
[email protected] 2 Department of Neurodegenerative Disorders Research, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan 3 Department of Neurosurgery, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +81-88-633-7206; Fax: +81-88-633-7208 Academic Editor: Edamakanti Chandrakanth Reddy Received: 2 May 2017; Accepted: 3 June 2017; Published: 7 June 2017 Abstract: Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat encoding an abnormally long polyglutamine tract (PolyQ) in the huntingtin (Htt) protein. In HD, striking neuropathological changes occur in the striatum, including loss of medium spiny neurons and parvalbumin-expressing interneurons accompanied by neurodegeneration of the striosome and matrix compartments, leading to progressive impairment of reasoning, walking and speaking abilities. The precise cause of striatal pathology in HD is still unknown; however, accumulating clinical and experimental evidence suggests multiple plausible pathophysiological mechanisms underlying striatal