Using the same HD model, Varma et al. [43] discovered that small molecular inhibitors of metabolism (mitochondrial and glycolytic function) such as rotenone, oligomycin and 4-dinitrophenol rescued neuronal loss and degeneration by activating caspase inhibition and ERK and AKT prosurvival signalling and their efficacy was further validated in cell culture and Drosophila HD models (Table 1; Figs. 1, 2). Here, AKT1 is linked to Huntington disease.