Functional changes during working memory in Huntington’s disease: 30 month longitudinal data from the IMAGE-HD study
-
1
Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Australia
-
2
University of Queensland, Australia
-
3
Monash Medical Centre, Neurology, Australia
-
4
CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation, United States
Introduction: We report on a 30 month fMRI investigation of working memory (WM) performance in premanifest Huntington’s disease (pre-HD) and symptomatic HD (symp-HD) using data from the Australian based IMAGE-HD study. We characterized longitudinal changes in functional activation and functional connectivity during working memory (WM), to investigate mechanisms of functional compensation as a consequence of disease progression.
Methods: Twenty-two pre-HD, eleven symp-HD, and twenty healthy control participants were included. Participants underwent fMRI testing at three time points over 30 months (baseline, 18 and 30 months) during which they completed an N-BACK WM task consisting of three conditions (0-BACK, 1-BACK and 2-BACK). BOLD (blood-oxygen level-dependent) activation, during 1-BACK and 2-BACK, and functional connectivity, were investigated in a number of cortical and subcortical structures.
Results: Compared with controls, the pre-HD group showed significantly increased activation longitudinally during 1-BACK in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and medial frontal cortex, and further increased activation during 2-BACK in the bilateral caudate, putamen, and temporal cortex. Longitudinal change in symp-HD was not significantly different from controls. Longitudinal changes in pre-HD were associated with disease burden and years to onset. The pre-HD group showed longitudinal decreased functional connectivity between left DLPFC and caudate during both 1-BACK and 2-BACK performance.
Discussion: We provide evidence for longitudinal changes in BOLD activity during WM prior to clinical manifestation of HD. The ability to increase activation in the prefrontal cortex over time may represent an early compensatory response during the premanifest stage, which may reflect an early marker for clinically relevant functional changes in HD.
Keywords:
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,
Huntington Disease,
fMRI,
working memory,
Putamen
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral
Topic:
Executive Processes
Citation:
Georgiou-Karistianis
N,
Poudel
G,
Dominguez
J,
Gray
M,
Salmon
L,
Churchyard
A,
Chua
P,
Borowsky
B,
Stout
J and
Egan
GF
(2013). Functional changes during working memory in Huntington’s disease: 30 month longitudinal data from the IMAGE-HD study.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00155
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
15 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis, Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia, nellie.georgiou-karistianis@monash.edu
Prof. Gary F Egan, Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia, gary.egan@monash.edu