With so many facets of HD mediated by BDNF, there is a clear potential for pharmacological applications: upregulation of BDNF by activity-inducing ampakines restored synaptic plasticity and memory in hippocampus of an HD mouse model by stabilizing actin polymerization in dendritic spines, a process severely impaired in HD [82]. The gene discussed is BDNF; the disease is Huntington disease.