Cerebellar Degeneration Signature in Huntington's Disease

Recent findings suggest a significant effect of the cerebellar circuit deterioration on the clinical manifestation of Huntington's disease, calling for a better understanding of the cerebellar degeneration in this disorder. Recent brain imaging analyses have provided conflicting results regarding the cerebellar changes during the progression of this disease. To help in resolving this controversy, we examined the cerebellar gray matter structural integrity from a cohort of HD patients. Whole brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and spatially unbiased atlas template of the human cerebellum (SUIT) analyses were done from T1-weighted brain images. Our results showed a significant cerebellar degeneration without any sign of volume increase. The highest cerebellar degeneration was identified in Crus I right lobule, Crus II bilaterally, and left VIIb, and left VIIIa lobules. The cerebellar degeneration signature, which controls for severity of degeneration, showed a degeneration pattern that included regions I-IV, Crus II, VIIb, VIIIa, VIIIb and X.