BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Therapeutics: Metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 1 (mGluR1; GRM1)

January 15, 2015 8:00 AM UTC

Mouse studies suggest inhibiting calcium influx in Purkinje neurons could be useful for treating spinocerebellar ataxia type 28 (SCA28). In a mouse model of SCA28, loss-of-function mutations in Grm1 decreased Ca2+ influx in Purkinje neurons and rescued the ataxic phenotype compared with controls that expressed wild-type Grm1. In the mouse SCA28 model, inhibition of Ca2+ influx in Purkinje neurons with the β-lactam antibiotic Rocephin ceftriaxone increased motor function compared with saline. Next steps could include identifying and evaluating brain-penetrating Ca2+ influx enhancers in SCA28 models...