Department of Anatomy, Rostock University Medical Centre, 18057 Rostock, Germany.
Rudolf-Zenker-Institute for Experimental Surgery, Rostock University Medical Centre, 18057 Rostock, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 10;23(14):7625. doi: 10.3390/ijms23147625.
For neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease (HD), early diagnosis is essential to treat patients and delay symptoms. Impaired olfaction, as observed as an early symptom in Parkinson´s disease, may also constitute a key symptom in HD. However, there are few reports on olfactory deficits in HD. Therefore, we aimed to investigate, in a transgenic rat model of HD: (1) whether general olfactory impairment exists and (2) whether there are disease-specific dynamics of olfactory dysfunction when the vomeronasal (VNE) and main olfactory epithelium (MOE) are compared. We used male rats of transgenic line 22 (TG22) of the bacterial artificial chromosome Huntington disease model (BACHD), aged 3 days or 6 months. Cell proliferation, apoptosis and macrophage activity were examined with immunohistochemistry in the VNE and MOE. No differences were observed in cellular parameters in the VNE between the groups. However, the MOE of the 6-month-old HD animals showed a significantly increased number of mature olfactory receptor neurons. Other cellular parameters were not affected. The results obtained in the TG22 line suggest a relative stability in the VNE, whereas the MOE seems at least temporarily affected.
对于亨廷顿病（HD）等神经退行性疾病，早期诊断对于治疗患者和延缓症状至关重要。嗅觉障碍是帕金森病的早期症状之一，也可能是 HD 的一个关键症状。然而，HD 嗅觉缺陷的报道很少。因此，我们旨在研究 HD 的转基因大鼠模型中：（1）是否存在一般嗅觉障碍，以及（2）比较犁鼻器（VNE）和主嗅觉上皮（MOE）时是否存在疾病特异性嗅觉功能障碍的动态变化。我们使用雄性转基因系 22 号（TG22）的细菌人工染色体亨廷顿病模型（BACHD）大鼠，年龄分别为 3 天和 6 个月。用免疫组织化学法检测 VNE 和 MOE 中的细胞增殖、凋亡和巨噬细胞活性。VNE 中两组间细胞参数无差异。然而，6 个月大的 HD 动物的 MOE 显示成熟嗅觉受体神经元数量显著增加。其他细胞参数不受影响。TG22 系的结果表明 VNE 相对稳定，而 MOE 似乎至少暂时受到影响。
