Description:

An important insight arising from the work of Michel Foucault is greater attention to the ways medical science produces subjects. In the case of Huntington's disease, the subjectivity produced has historically been constructed as dysfunctional and threatening, while the subjectivity of the researcher was unscrutinised. This paper describes a Foucauldian analysis of 20th century medical and social scientific literature on the social consequences of Huntington's disease. It identifies three features of Huntington's disease as central to its discursive construction: genetic transmission pattern, its age of onset and its behavioural symptoms. These qualities, converted into medical and psychiatric knowledge, facilitated the absorption of Huntington's disease into eugenicist discourse, a connection reflected throughout the literature. Through various techniques of power, especially genetic pedigrees, and the normalised appropriation and exploitation of patients' identities and data within psychiatry, affected individuals were subjectified as contaminated and threatening, and implicated in the intergenerational transmission of social dysfunction.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal cognitive impairment neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by behavioral and psychiatric disorders followed by dementia. HD is caused by repeated expansion of cytosine-adenine-guanine trinucleotide within the Huntingtin gene (Htt), which encodes for polyglutamine repeat in Huntingtin protein (Htt). Although a number of conventional treatment options such as antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants, mood stabilizing agents, anti-anxiety drugs and omega fatty acids are available for HD but all of them are associated with one or more side effects. Herbal products are an alternative remedies used for treatment of diverse pathological conditions are comparatively safe as compared to synthetic molecules. The present review summarizes various clinical and preclinical studies involving phytoconstituents which have been explored for treatment of Huntington disease. Literature search was conducted using various electronic database i.e. Scopus, Google, PubMed, Web of Science. Search was conducted using different keywords such as “Huntington Disease”, “herbal products”, “phytoconstituents”, “antihuntignton botanicals”, “herbal products for Huntington Disease”, “natural products for Huntington Disease” and “phytomedicine for huntington disease”. Further studies were screening by assessing abstracts and cross references and previously published review and research articles. A number of natural products are reported with antihuntignton effects in various clinical and preclinical studies and some of them are also available as herbal formulations. Prominent phytoconstituents present in different plants exhibiting antihuntington effects include asiatic acid, celastrol, sesamol psoralen, isopsoralen, quercetin, madecassic acid, catechin, kaempferol, charantin, 6-shogoal, ellagic acid, celastrine, bacoside A, ginkgolide B, withaferin A, curcumin, scopoletin, caffeine, β-sitosterol, vitexin, rutin, apigenin, luteolin, cannabidiol, tetrahydrocannabinol, and resveratrol. The plant extracts containing these phytoconstituents or their isolated components are reported to exhibit antihuntington effect by targeting various enzymes, modulating inflammatory mediators and/or by improving cognitive impairment. Although, various preclinical studies have shown promising effects of phytochemicals in treatment of Huntington disease, but further investigation is required to prove their efficacy and safety in human beings.

With Regards
Sofia
Journal Coordinator
Global Journal of Research and Review