INCREASED PERIPHERAL BENZODIAZEPINE BINDING-SITES IN THE BRAIN OF PATIENTS WITH HUNTINGTONS-DISEASE

Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary disorder associated with the development of dyskinesias and dementia, characterised by profound at rophy of the striatum and, to a lesser extent, other brain areas. A re lative gliosis has been described. One marker for such inflammatory gl iosis is an elevation of peripheral type benzodiazepine binding sites (PTBBS); these have also been shown to be increased following acute ex perimental and chronic degenerative neuronal damage. The present study investigates [H-3]PK11195 binding to PTBBS in three brain areas of HD patients. We found a highly significant increase in PTBBS density in the putamen, a moderate but significant increase in the frontal cortex of HD patients and no significant change in the temporal cortex. Comp aring these results to findings in other neurodegenerative diseases, e .g. Alzheimer's disease, where inflammation is discussed as a possible primary as well as a secondary pathological mechanism, our observatio ns point to a possible involvement of inflammation in the neurodegener ative process in HD. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Lt d.