image: After 3 months of treatment (when mice reached the early disease stage), the time-restricted feeding-treated Q175 mouse model of Huntington's disease showed improvements in locomotor activity rhythm and sleep awakening time. view more
Credit: Wang et al., eNeuro (2018)
Restricting meals to the same time each day improves motor activity and sleep quality in a mouse model of Huntington's disease, according to new research published in eNeuro. These findings suggest that eating on a strict schedule could improve quality of life for patients with neurodegenerative diseases for which there are no known cures.
Christopher Colwell and colleagues used a well-studied mouse line that models the genetic cause and symptoms of Huntington's disease, including sleep disruptions that appear to be a general feature of neurodegenerative disorders. By restricting food availability to a 6-hour period in the middle of the period when the mice are active, the researchers demonstrate in these mice improved performance on two different motor tasks and a more typical rhythm of daily activity. In addition, these mice showed improved heart rate variability, a marker of cardiovascular health, and more typical gene expression in the striatum, a brain region involved in motor control that is susceptible to degeneration in Huntington's disease. This study, which manipulated the availability but not the quantity of food, point to time of feeding as an additional environmental signal that might work in conjunction with light to regulate the body clock.
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Article: Time restricted feeding improves circadian dysfunction as well as motor symptoms in the Q175 mouse model of Huntington's disease
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0431-17.2018
Corresponding author:
Christopher Colwell
University of California
Los Angeles, USA
ccolwell@mednet.ucla.edu
About eNeuro
eNeuro, the Society for Neuroscience's new open-access journal launched in 2014, publishes rigorous neuroscience research with double-blind peer review that masks the identity of both the authors and reviewers, minimizing the potential for implicit biases. eNeuro is distinguished by a broader scope and balanced perspective achieved by publishing negative results, failure to replicate or replication studies. New research, computational neuroscience, theories and methods are also published.
About The Society for Neuroscience
The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 37,000 members in more than 90 countries and over 130 chapters worldwide.
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eNeuro