TY - JOUR
T1 - Major superficial white matter abnormalities in Huntington's disease
AU - Phillips, Owen
AU - Joshi, Shantanu H.
AU - Squitieri, Ferdinando
AU - Sanchez-Castaneda, C.
AU - Narr, Katherine L.
AU - Shattuck, David W.
AU - Caltagirone, Carlo
AU - Sabatini, Umberto
AU - Di Paola, Margherita
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Background: The late myelinating superficial white matter at the juncture of the cortical gray and white matter comprising the intracortical myelin and short-range association fibers has not received attention in Huntington's disease. It is an area of the brain that is late myelinating and is sensitive to both normal aging and neurodegenerative disease effects. Therefore, it may be sensitive to Huntington's disease processes. Methods: Structural MRI data from 25 Pre-symptomatic subjects, 24 Huntington's disease patients and 49 healthy controls was run through a cortical pattern-matching program. The surface corresponding to the white matter directly below the cortical gray matter was then extracted. Individual subject's Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data was aligned to their structural MRI data. Diffusivity values along the white matter surface were then sampled at each vertex point. DTI measures with high spatial resolution across the superficial white matter surface were then analyzed with the General Linear Model to test for the effects of disease. Results: There was an overall increase in the axial and radial diffusivity across much of the superficial white matter (p <0.001) in Pre-symptomatic subjects compared to controls. In Huntington's disease patients increased diffusivity covered essentially the whole brain (p <0.001). Changes are correlated with genotype (CAG repeat number) and disease burden (p <0.001). Conclusions: This study showed broad abnormalities in superficial white matter even before symptoms are present in Huntington's disease. Since, the superficial white matter has a unique microstructure and function these abnormalities suggest it plays an important role in the disease.
AB - Background: The late myelinating superficial white matter at the juncture of the cortical gray and white matter comprising the intracortical myelin and short-range association fibers has not received attention in Huntington's disease. It is an area of the brain that is late myelinating and is sensitive to both normal aging and neurodegenerative disease effects. Therefore, it may be sensitive to Huntington's disease processes. Methods: Structural MRI data from 25 Pre-symptomatic subjects, 24 Huntington's disease patients and 49 healthy controls was run through a cortical pattern-matching program. The surface corresponding to the white matter directly below the cortical gray matter was then extracted. Individual subject's Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data was aligned to their structural MRI data. Diffusivity values along the white matter surface were then sampled at each vertex point. DTI measures with high spatial resolution across the superficial white matter surface were then analyzed with the General Linear Model to test for the effects of disease. Results: There was an overall increase in the axial and radial diffusivity across much of the superficial white matter (p <0.001) in Pre-symptomatic subjects compared to controls. In Huntington's disease patients increased diffusivity covered essentially the whole brain (p <0.001). Changes are correlated with genotype (CAG repeat number) and disease burden (p <0.001). Conclusions: This study showed broad abnormalities in superficial white matter even before symptoms are present in Huntington's disease. Since, the superficial white matter has a unique microstructure and function these abnormalities suggest it plays an important role in the disease.
KW - CAG repeat length
KW - DTI diffusion
KW - Huntington's disease
KW - Intracortical myelin
KW - Movement disorders
KW - MRI
KW - Oligodendrocyte
KW - White matter
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U2 - 10.3389/fnins.2016.00197
DO - 10.3389/fnins.2016.00197
M3 - Article
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Neuroscience
SN - 1662-4548
IS - MAY
M1 - 197
ER -