A barrister with Holborn Chambers, Dr. Anton van Dellen practices law in England. Before starting in this field, Dr. Anton van Dellen studied medicine and performed research into Huntington's disease.

1. By Anton Van Dellen

2. A barrister with Holborn Chambers, Dr.
Anton van Dellen practices law in England.
Before starting in this field, Dr. Anton van
Dellen studied medicine and performed
research into Huntington's disease.

3. In October 2013, scientists announced a new
discovery in the fight against Huntington's
disease. Researchers from the Feinstein
Institute for Medical Research investigated
how the brain of someone with Huntington's
disease consumes energy as compared to
persons without it. Under the direction of
David Eidelberg, the team evaluated how
patients’ brains absorbed sugar even before
they began showing physical symptoms.

4. The study lasted seven years and involved 12 persons
with the Huntington's disease mutation and 12 persons
without it. Each patient was given an intravenous
injection of a specific type of sugar and placed in a
positron emission tomography scanner that took
pictures of their whole brain. The groups returned at
1.5-, 4-, and 7-year intervals to undergo the same
procedure. In addition to showing brain shrinkage
among those with the condition, the results indicated
that certain regions of the brain in individuals with
Huntington’s disease consume more sugar as the
disease progresses while other parts consume less.