Session Information
Date: Sunday, October 7, 2018
Session Title: Ataxia
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Hall 3FG
Objective: To reveal effects of TRH [Thyrotropin releasing hormone (protirelin tartrate)] on the prism adaptation task in patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD).
Background: The cerebellum is known to play a crucial role in motor adaptation including the prism adaptation task. TRH has been widely used for cerebellar ataxia in Japan, but it has not been studied well how TRH affects the motor adaptation tasks. Here, we studied whether TRH therapy affects the performance of motor adaptation task.
Methods: Sixteen SCD patients (six MSA-C, four SCA3, four SCA6 and two SCA31) participated in this study. In the prism adaptation task, the patients reached to a target on the screen wearing wedge prism lenses. We assessed the Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) score, mean horizontal error during baseline period of the prism adaptation task (baseline performance), and the after effects (AEs) of the prism adaptation task before and after TRH therapy (intravenous injection of protirelin tartrate 2mg per day, for 14 days).
Results: SARA score was significantly improved after TRH therapy (p=0.013). Multiple regression analysis revealed that improvement of SARA score mainly related with improvement of “Stance” category score. Mean horizontal error during baseline period was significantly improved after TRH therapy (p=0.039), whereas AE of the prism adaptation task did not differ significantly between the two conditions (p=0.103).
Conclusions: TRH improved cerebellar ataxia mainly in the postural or gait function, and the accuracy of reaching actions, whereas the prism adaptation did not improve after TRH. Our results suggest that different neural mechanisms may lie under the classical cerebellar ataxic signs and the cerebellar adaptation, which may be differentially affected by TRH treatment.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
T. Shimizu, R. Hanajima, R. Tsutsumi, N. Tominaga, Y. Ugawa, K. Nishiyama. Dissociative effects of thyrotropin releasing hormone on classical cerebellar ataxic signs and cerebellar adaptation in patients with spinocerebellar degeneration [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2018; 33 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/dissociative-effects-of-thyrotropin-releasing-hormone-on-classical-cerebellar-ataxic-signs-and-cerebellar-adaptation-in-patients-with-spinocerebellar-degeneration/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2018 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/dissociative-effects-of-thyrotropin-releasing-hormone-on-classical-cerebellar-ataxic-signs-and-cerebellar-adaptation-in-patients-with-spinocerebellar-degeneration/