The gut microbiome in Huntington disease: A review

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurological disease caused by a trinucleotide repeat increase in the huntingtin (htt) gene, which is widely expressed in the brain and peripheral tissues. While many studies have focused on the cognitive, psychological, and motor symptoms of HD, however, the scope of peripheral pathology and its possible impact on central symptoms has received less attention. We hypothesised that because disruption of the gastrointestinal microbiota (gut dysbiosis) has lately been identified in a number of neurological and psychiatric illnesses, it might also occur in HD. In the HD gut microbiota, bacteriodetes increased whereas firmicutes decreased proportionally. Despite a larger food consumption, the gut dysbiosis was associated with a reduction in body weight growth. The presence of greater faecal water content in hd was also linked to a shift in the gut microenvironment. In this review, we present an update on the association between microbiome and brain function as it relates to huntington's disease.