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Whole-brain Segmentation and Change-point Analysis of Anatomical Brain MRI—Application in Premanifest Huntington's Disease
09:06

Whole-brain Segmentation and Change-point Analysis of Anatomical Brain MRI—Application in Premanifest Huntington's Disease

Published on: June 9, 2018

Depressive symptoms in prodromal Huntington's Disease correlate with Stroop-interference related functional

Paul G Unschuld1, Suresh E Joel, James J Pekar

  • 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. unschuld@jhmi.edu

Psychiatry Research
|September 15, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Depressive symptoms in early Huntington's Disease (HD) may stem from altered brain network activity. This study found a stronger correlation between depressive symptoms and ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity in prodromal HD patients, especially those with longer CAG repeats.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Genetics
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Huntington's Disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by CAG triplet repeat expansion in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene.
  • Depressive symptoms often precede motor diagnosis in prodromal HD, but their brain correlates are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the functional brain correlates of depressive symptoms in individuals in the prodromal phase of HD.
  • To explore the relationship between Stroop-interference related brain activity, depressive symptoms, and CAG repeat length in prodromal HD.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activity during a Stroop color-naming task in 32 prodromal HD subjects and 52 controls.
  • Group independent component analysis identified functional connectivity networks, and activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) node of the default-mode network was correlated with depressive symptom scores (CES-D).

Main Results:

  • Stroop performance was not affected by HTT mutation status or depression scores.
  • Increased correlation between vmPFC activity and depressive symptoms was observed in prodromal HD subjects compared to controls.
  • This correlation was stronger in prodromal HD patients with longer CAG repeat lengths.

Conclusions:

  • Depressive symptoms in prodromal HD may be linked to altered functional brain network activity, specifically within the default-mode network's vmPFC.
  • These findings suggest early brain alterations associated with HD contribute to the manifestation of depressive symptoms before motor onset.

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