Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited disorder that causes degeneration of neurons in various areas of the brain, including those involved in the control of voluntary movement.  The disease is caused by a mutation of the huntingtin protein gene, one of the consequences of which is a synaptic dysfunction preceding neurodegeneration. One of the main goals of HD research is to understand the toxicity of the mutant huntingtin protein to neurons and to develop drugs to counteract it. The current challenge is to understand how the defective gene affects various brain structures as well as the body’s chemistry and metabolism.

We have developed at NETRI microfluidic devices with asymmetrical architecture allowing the creation of synapses to understand how the defective gene huntingtin affects various brain structures and leads to neurons degenerations in HD.