TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging in Huntington's Disease
AU - Weaver, Kurt E.
AU - Richards, Todd L.
AU - Liang, Olivia
AU - Laurino, Mercy Y.
AU - Samii, Ali
AU - Aylward, Elizabeth H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a grant from the CHDI Foundation. The authors would like to thank Jenee O'Brien and Jeff Stevenson for their help with data collection and Dr. Natalia Kleinhans for assistance with data analysis and Drs. Natalia Kleinhans and Julie Stout for their insight.
PY - 2009/4
Y1 - 2009/4
N2 - Serial diffusion tensor imaging scans were collected at baseline and 1 year follow-up to investigate the neurodegenerative profile of white matter (WM) in seven individuals with the Huntington's Disease (HD) gene mutation and seven control subjects matched on age and gender. In the HD subjects, but not controls, a significant reduction of fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of WM integrity, between baseline and follow-up was evident throughout the brain. In addition, a DTI scalar associated with the stability of axons, axial diffusivity, showed significant longitudinal decreases from year 1 to year 2 in HD subjects, declines that overlapped to greater degree with FA discrepancies than longitudinal increases in radial diffusivity, a DTI variable sensitive to demylinization. These preliminary results provide the first longitudinal DTI evidence of WM degeneration in HD and support the notion that FA abnormalities in HD may be a result of axonal injury or withdrawal. These results suggest that longitudinal FA changes may serve as a neuropathological biomarker in HD.
AB - Serial diffusion tensor imaging scans were collected at baseline and 1 year follow-up to investigate the neurodegenerative profile of white matter (WM) in seven individuals with the Huntington's Disease (HD) gene mutation and seven control subjects matched on age and gender. In the HD subjects, but not controls, a significant reduction of fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of WM integrity, between baseline and follow-up was evident throughout the brain. In addition, a DTI scalar associated with the stability of axons, axial diffusivity, showed significant longitudinal decreases from year 1 to year 2 in HD subjects, declines that overlapped to greater degree with FA discrepancies than longitudinal increases in radial diffusivity, a DTI variable sensitive to demylinization. These preliminary results provide the first longitudinal DTI evidence of WM degeneration in HD and support the notion that FA abnormalities in HD may be a result of axonal injury or withdrawal. These results suggest that longitudinal FA changes may serve as a neuropathological biomarker in HD.
KW - Axial diffusivity
KW - Diffusion tensor imaging
KW - Fractional anisotropy
KW - Huntington's Disease
KW - Radial diffusivity
KW - White matter
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U2 - 10.1016/j.expneurol.2008.12.026
DO - 10.1016/j.expneurol.2008.12.026
M3 - Article
C2 - 19320010
AN - SCOPUS:62049085680
SN - 0014-4886
VL - 216
SP - 525
EP - 529
JO - Experimental Neurology
JF - Experimental Neurology
IS - 2
ER -