Abnormal Recovery from Acute Stress in Huntingtons Disease Mice

Comparisons of hypothalamic dysfunction between Huntington’s Disease (HD) patients and rodent models of HD have not always yielded similar results. Cortisol levels in HD patients have been contradictory, with reports ranging from hypo- to hypercorticoidism of morning measurements. Initial reports of major elevations in circulating corticosterone levels in the R6/2 mouse model of HD have only been followed up in one other closely related model, the R6/1 mouse, and the results were not perfectly congruent. To determine if abnormal stress hormones were a characteristic of disease, we examined diurnal and stress-induced corticosterone levels in multiple HD mouse models.