This study indicates that significant parallels may be drawn between morphological findings gained from brain autopsies of Huntington's diseased (HD) patients and quolinic acid-lesioned rat brains (the most frequent animal model of HD), particularly in relation to the progression of the neuronal degeneration and rarefaction of neuropil resulting in severe striatal atrophy. Conversely, the development and character of reactive astrogliosis is principally conditioned by the severity (intensity) of striatal neurodegenerative process.