The Huntington disease gene encodes the protein huntingtin, which is widely
expressed during embryonic development and in mature tissues. In order to
elucidate the physiological function of huntingtin, which so far is unknown
, we intend to study the effect of antisense downregulated huntingtin expre
ssion. We have found an inhibiting effect of a phosphorothioated oligodeoxy
nucleotide (PS-ODN) added to the culture medium of embryonic teratocarcinom
a cells (NT2) and postmitotic neurons (NT2N neurons) differentiated from th
e NT2 cells. Specific inhibition of expression of endogenous huntingtin was
achieved in NT2N neurons in the concentration range of 1-5 muM PS-ODN, whe
reas no inhibition was obtained in NT2 cells. We describe in detail the sel
ection of the target sequence for the antisense oligo and the uptake, intra
cellular distribution, and stability of the antisense PS-ODN in the two cel
l types. Antisense down-regulation of huntingtin in this model of human neu
rons represents a suitable approach to study its normal function.