Journal article
Longitudinal Changes in the Motor Learning-Related Brain Activation Response in Presymptomatic Huntington's Disease
PloS one, Vol.11(5), pp.e0154742-e0154742
05/18/2016
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154742
PMCID: PMC4871440
PMID: 27192167
Abstract
Neurocognitive decline, including deficits in motor learning, occurs in the presymptomatic phase of Huntington's disease (HD) and precedes the onset of motor symptoms. Findings from recent neuroimaging studies have linked these deficits to alterations in fronto-striatal and fronto-parietal brain networks. However, little is known about the temporal dynamics of these networks when subjects approach phenoconversion. Here, 10 subjects with presymptomatic HD were scanned with 15O-labeled water at baseline and again 1.5 years later while performing a motor sequence learning task and a kinematically matched control task. Spatial covariance analysis was utilized to characterize patterns of change in learning-related neural activation occurring over time in these individuals. Pattern expression was compared to corresponding values in 10 age-matched healthy control subjects. Spatial covariance analysis revealed significant longitudinal changes in the expression of a specific learning-related activation pattern characterized by increasing activity in the right orbitofrontal cortex, with concurrent reductions in the right medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate regions, the left insula, left precuneus, and left cerebellum. Changes in the expression of this pattern over time correlated with baseline measurements of disease burden and learning performance. The network changes were accompanied by modest improvement in learning performance that took place concurrently in the gene carriers. The presence of increased network activity in the setting of stable task performance is consistent with a discrete compensatory mechanism. The findings suggest that this effect is most pronounced in the late presymptomatic phase of HD, as subjects approach clinical onset.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Longitudinal Changes in the Motor Learning-Related Brain Activation Response in Presymptomatic Huntington's Disease
- Creators
- Florian Holtbernd - Feinstein Institute for Medical ResearchChris C Tang - Feinstein Institute for Medical ResearchAndrew Feigin - Feinstein Institute for Medical ResearchVijay Dhawan - Feinstein Institute for Medical ResearchMaria Felice Ghilardi - City University of New YorkJane S Paulsen - University of IowaMark Guttman - University of TorontoDavid Eidelberg - Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- PloS one, Vol.11(5), pp.e0154742-e0154742
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0154742
- PMID
- 27192167
- PMCID
- PMC4871440
- NLM abbreviation
- PLoS One
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- eISSN
- 1932-6203
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000065, name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, award: R01 NS 37564
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/18/2016
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984383316702771
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