# Time restricted feeding rescues circadian and motor dysfunction in a mouse model of Huntington's disease

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $124,446

## Abstract

Disturbances in the daily sleep-wake cycle are a common feature experienced by individuals with
neurodegenerative disorders. They have difficulty sleeping at night and staying awake during the day. These
disturbances have a major impact on their quality of life as well as on the family members who care for them.
Huntington's disease (HD) is the most common genetically determined neurodegenerative disease and we have
documented that circadian rhythms are disrupted early in the disease progression in three distinct mouse models
of HD. Using a mouse model of HD which expresses the human mutation (BACHD), we have successfully
improved the behavioral and some of the autonomic deficits using a protocol that limits the daily food intake into
a 6-hr window during the animal's active phase, and is thus named: time restricted feeding (TRF). This
feeding/fasting cycle improved behaviorally defined sleep in the BACHD model when applied early in disease
progression. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that TRF can improve sleep parameters in mice
although earlier work has shown that a similar schedule can improve behavioral sleep patterns in Drosophila. A
critical gap in our knowledge is whether TRF specifically alters the temporal pattern of sleep stages, sleep
homeostasis or cortical up/down states reflecting slow wave activity. This proposal will employ
electrophysiological and optical approaches to close this gap and determine if such treatments can be usefully
employed in HD. Given the shared pathology including the formation of protein aggregates and cell death,
treatment strategies that prove to be effective in HD are likely to be broadly beneficial in the management of
neurodegenerative diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10261774
- **Project number:** 3R21NS115041-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOPHER SCOTT COLWELL
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $124,446
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-12-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10261774

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10261774, Time restricted feeding rescues circadian and motor dysfunction in a mouse model of Huntington's disease (3R21NS115041-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10261774. Licensed CC0.

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