Session Information
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Session Title: Huntington's disease
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: (1) To compare pattern of spontaneous activity within default mode network (DMN) between early manifest Huntington’s disease (HD) patients and healthy controls and (2) to establish possible correlations between pattern of DMN activity and clinical characteristics of HD patients.
Background: Various studies have used resting-state fMRI to find changes in spontaneous brain activity and a number of HD symptoms. However, few works were devoted to evaluation of correlations between DMN activity and clinical characteristics of HD patients.
Methods: Seventeen HD patients (mean age 47.7±11.61 years) and fifteen healthy controls (mean age 39.73±15.30 years) underwent resting-state fMRI scanning (1.5 T Siemens Magnetom Avanto, Germany). All subjects were right-handed. Subjects from the HD group underwent assessment using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale combined with the Snaith Irritability Scale (HADS-SIS), and UHDRS-Motor. We have also calculated years from HD onset. Demographics of both studied groups and clinical characteristics of HD subjects are presented in the table 1.
| Healthy controls | HD patients | |
| Total number of subjects | 15 | 17 |
| Sex: men/women | 8/7 | 7/10 |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 39.73 (15.30) | 47.65 (11.61) |
| HADS-SIS score for depression | n/a | 7.0 (2;10) |
| HADS-SIS score for anxiety | n/a | 6 (5;10) |
| HADS-SIS score for irritability | n/a | 7.06 (5.04) |
| UHDRS motor score | n/a | 27.29 (8.79) |
| Number of CAG-repeats | n/a | 43.71 (3.33) |
| CAP score | n/a | 357.47 (71.57) |
| Years from HD onset | n/a | 7.12 (4.27) |
Results: Using two-sample t-test we have found decreased activity in left precuneus, left middle cingulate gyrus, and right paracentral lobule (p<0.05; pFWE<0.05) (all regions belong to DMN) in HD subjects comparing to healthy controls. Multiple regression analysis showed direct relationship between UHDRS motor score and spontaneous activity in the left putamen and globus pallidus. We also found inverse relationship between spontaneous activity in the right middle cingulate gyrus and disease duration, subscores for depression and anxiety of the HADS-SIS. All findings were statistically significant (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Difference in DMN activity in HD patients in comparison with healthy controls and correlations found between DMN activity and clinical characteristics of HD patients reflect the underlying ongoing neurodegenerative process in the latter group. Our findings may be considered as potential biomarkers which demand further investigations.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Y.A. Seliverstov, E.V. Seliverstova, S.A. Klyushnikov, R.N. Konovalov, S.N. Illarioshkin. Clinical and neuroimaging correlations in early manifest Huntington’s disease patients: Default mode network properties according to resting-state functional MRI [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-and-neuroimaging-correlations-in-early-manifest-huntingtons-disease-patients-default-mode-network-properties-according-to-resting-state-functional-mri/. Accessed May 14, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-and-neuroimaging-correlations-in-early-manifest-huntingtons-disease-patients-default-mode-network-properties-according-to-resting-state-functional-mri/