Structure and function of the cerebral cortex in Huntington's disease

Doctoral Thesis

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative disorder.The primary aim of this thesis is to examine alterations in the cerebral cortex in HD gene carriers. Different image modalities and approaches will be used to extent the knowledge on both structural and functional cortical brain changes in early disease. Although striatal atrophy is more extensively present in HD, changes in the cerebral cortex can also be detected in the pre-symptomatic stage. Different methodological approaches used in our studies all showed a consistent pattern of cortical atrophy making volumetric MRI a reliable and effective tool to assess early in-vivo cortical brain changes, even in a rare neurodegenerative disorder such as HD. The influence of cortical changes on other clinical signs that occur in HD should not be overlooked. Our results demonstrate that volume loss and thinning of the cerebral cortex, especially the posterior brain regions, is detectable in...Show moreHuntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative disorder.The primary aim of this thesis is to examine alterations in the cerebral cortex in HD gene carriers. Different image modalities and approaches will be used to extent the knowledge on both structural and functional cortical brain changes in early disease. Although striatal atrophy is more extensively present in HD, changes in the cerebral cortex can also be detected in the pre-symptomatic stage. Different methodological approaches used in our studies all showed a consistent pattern of cortical atrophy making volumetric MRI a reliable and effective tool to assess early in-vivo cortical brain changes, even in a rare neurodegenerative disorder such as HD. The influence of cortical changes on other clinical signs that occur in HD should not be overlooked. Our results demonstrate that volume loss and thinning of the cerebral cortex, especially the posterior brain regions, is detectable in early stages and contributes to the presence of specific motor signs and cognitive impairments. We believe that intervention trials could benefit from using cortical volumes as outcome measures, instead of using striatal volumes alone.Show less

MRI

Cognition

Neurodegeneration

FSL

Movement disorder

Huntington's disease