Article archive / February 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 6. Source pages: 1, 8.
Dr. Gerald LaHoste and his team of researchers from the Applied Biopsychology Program of the Psychology Department at University of New Orleans (UNO) have discovered a way that could help delay behavioral decline in patients with Huntington’s Disease, an incurable, debilitating and fatal illness.
Working with genetically altered mice with the gene for Huntington’s, the researchers discovered that the role of another gene, named Rhes, is necessary for the symptoms of Huntington’s to appear. In their research they found that if this second gene was inhibited, there was a significant delay in the emergence of behavioral symptoms of the disease. The research, “Attenuation of Rhes Activity Significantly Delays the Appearance of Behavioral Symptoms in a Mouse Model of Huntington’s Disease,” is published by Public Library of Science, PLoS One.
Gerald J. LaHoste, Ph.D. (courtesy photo)
Huntington’s is an inherited disease affecting 3 to 7 of 100,000 people of European ancestry. It causes a progressive breakdown of cells in the brain, resulting in many debilitating effects on a person, including movement problems, cognitive disability, and dementia. Medications are used to help manage the symptoms of Huntington’s and deterioration of functioning that occurs over 10 to 15 years, but currently there are no treatments that prevent the physical and mental decline.
In their article, the authors explain, “The objective of the present study was to examine whether the inhibition of Rhes would attenuate or delay the symptoms of HD in vivo. We used a transgenic mouse model of HD crossed with Rhes knockout mice to show that the behavioral symptoms of HD are regulated by Rhes. HD+/Rhes2/2 mice showed significantly delayed expression of HD-like symptoms in this in vivo model. Drugs that block or inhibit the actions of Rhes may be useful as the first treatments for HD.”
Dr. LaHoste and graduate student Brandon Baiamonte conceived and designed the experiment. Along with Franklin Lee and Steve Brewer, also from the UNO Applied Biopsychology Program, who helped conduct the experiment. Baiamonte wrote the paper. Daniela Spano from the Biotecnoloie Mediche, Unversita di Napolic and the CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, In Naples, Italy, contributed analytic tools.
Dr. Gerald LaHoste explained to the UNO press, "I believe that these findings are important because they may lead to the development of the first treatment for this horrible disease.”
LaHoste is Associate Professor of Psychology at UNO, formerly the Villere Endowed Chair for Research in Neuroscience, Emeritus. He received his Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology from Tulane University in 1985. He received postdoctoral training in Bordeaux, France and at the University of California, Irvine, where he served on the faculty for eight years before coming to UNO. His work has led to the discovery of the link between a dopamine-related gene and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a line of research replicated in laboratories worldwide and cited over 500 times in scientific journals.
Dr. LaHoste’s applied biopsychology program at UNO is unique in the goal to understand the biological underpinnings of behavior, by examining the many levels of organization of this system. This effort spans from molecular genetics to behavior, with all variables in between, such as gene and protein expression, neuroanatomy and physiology.
In a phone conversation with the Times yesterday, Dr. LaHoste explained that the biopsychological approach is important for uncovering the connections between behavior and other levels of investigation, connections that other scientists may often miss.
His goal as stated on the website is to use “a comprehensive view of the complexity of normal and pathological human behavior.”
At the LaHoste Laboratory, a website that can be found under Dr. LaHoste’s faculty listing at UNO, the work is described as a subfield of psychology that is defined not by the subject matter but by its methods.
“We clone genes, we breed genetically engineered mice, we do DNA fingerprinting, we study changes in gene expression, we use state-of-the art microscopy to visualize the protein products of genes and, most of all, we meticulously observe and test rats and mice in their normal and drug-stimulated behavior using paradigms that have been validated as models of human mental and neurological illness,” noted authors of the site.
“But we are not molecular biologists, nor are we neuroscientists, we are Biopsychologists, first and last.”
The LaHoste Lab includes the Schizophrenia Project, Huntington’s Project, and Chemo- Brain Project. UNO offers a doctoral degree in applied biopsychology, a rapidly evolving discipline within psychology that can be defined as the scientific study of the biology of behavior.
On the LaHoste Lab website, the researchers note that the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie suffered from the Huntington’s Disease, as did the fictional character Dr. Remy Hadley on the popular T.V. show House. The team cross-breeds Rhes knockout mice with the transgenic mice that show Huntington’s. This is how they study the role of Rhes in human Huntington’s disease.
“As Applied Biopsychologists, our hope is that our work will lead to a treatment for this terrible illness.”
They seem to have made a huge step in that direction.
The article is available at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2 F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0053606
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