Amino acids, such as glutamine, play an important role in manufacturing proteins. Problems with proteins, especially those in the brain, can lead to diseases such as Huntington's disease. Although glutamine plays a crucial role in Huntington's disease, Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder and is not affected by the amount of glutamine in your diet.
Glutamine
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the human body. The human body can make glutamine on its own and cells in your lungs make most of the glutamine in your body; muscles are often used as a storage space for glutamine. In addition to making new proteins, your body can use glutamine to remove ammonia from your body; glutamine is also important for the function of your immune system.
Glutamine and Huntington's Disease
Huntington's disease is a condition in which too much glutamine appears in a protein called huntingtin, which is important for nerve function. The huntingtin protein naturally has a stretch of many glutamines in a row. However, if this stretch of glutamines goes on for too long, it can cause the protein to dysfunction. Normally, this protein has between 10 and 35 glutamines in a row; if you have more than 40 glutamines in a row, you will develop Huntington's disease.
Huntington's Cause
Huntington's disease is caused by a genetic problem. Your genes encode the number and sequence of amino acids in a protein. One genetic sequence, known as C-A-G, tells the body to insert a glutamine. People with Huntington's disease have what is known as a C-A-G expansion, which is problem that occurs during DNA replication, resulting in extra copies of C-A-G appearing in the huntingtin gene. It is not known how these extra glutamines cause nerve dysfunction and death, and there is no cure for this condition.
Huntington's Symptoms
Huntington's disease can cause movement, cognitive and psychiatric problems. Some of the movement problems include clumsiness, jaw clenching, problems with balance, slurred speech and uncontrolled muscle contractions. Huntington's disease can also interfere with your memory and ability to concentrate or make decisions. Depression, manic-depression and hostility or irritability are common psychiatric manifestations of this disease, and some patients will become psychotic. Huntington's disease requires genetic testing to diagnose the condition.
