Research Paper On Huntington's Disease

Huntington’s Disease Huntington’s disease is a serious, dominant genetic disorder in which the nerve cells in a person’s brain degenerate over time. A wide range of symptoms can arise for individuals with this disease. Cognitive, physical, and psychiatric disorders appear over the course of the life of someone with Huntington’s. There is no cure for this disease, but medication can help manage the symptoms. In 1872, George Huntington wrote a paper titled On Chorea describing a disorder which later became known as Huntington’s Chorea (Huntington’s New South Wales). The exact gene was not discovered, however, until 1993. The Huntington Disease gene is a mutation on the fourth chromosome, which codes for the protein huntingtin (“Learning About Huntington’s Disease). The defective gene contains repeating segments of CAG. Normally this section of DNA is repeated 10 to 28 times. A HD gene can repeat this specific section 36-120 times. The amount of times the CAG section of DNA is repeated relates to how early the …show more content…
They all seem to fall into three categories: physical, cognitive, and psychiatric. Some physical defects include involuntary jerking or writhing movements, dystonia, slow or abnormal eye movements and difficulty with the physical production of speech or swallowing. Drugs, such as dopamine, amantadine and tetrabenazine are used to try to control the extra body movements and abnormal behaviors. Cognitive and psychiatric symptoms include dementia, loss of judgment, personality changes, and speech changes. After their symptoms arise, patients with HD are going to need a great deal of assistance, eventually even 24-hour care. This disease usually leads to death around 15-20 years after the disease becomes present. The main cause of death is infection, and, unfortunately, numerous patients with this disease commit suicide (Huntington Disease: MedlinePlus Medical