Researchers at the University of Barcelona, Spain, have found mutations in a protein that can be linked to Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative condition that currently has no cure.
In the study, scientists used a new imaging technique which allowed them to visualise individual neurons, in a mouse model of the disease for the first time.
Their images showed that a mutation in lamin B1, a protein known to be associated with other diseases that cause premature aging, could be found at an abnormally high amount in the neurons of the diseased mice.
The team hope that identification of lamin B1 as a target for Huntington’s disease might open new potential treatment opportunities in the future.