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

Published on: June 9, 2018

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Cognitive engagement may slow clinical progression and brain atrophy in Huntington's disease

Audrey E De Paepe1,2, Yemila Plana-Alcaide3, Clara Garcia-Gorro1,2

  • 1Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute - IDIBELL], L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, Spain.

Scientific Reports
|December 3, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Lifelong cognitive engagement benefits Huntington's disease (HD) patients by slowing motor and psychiatric decline. Higher cognitive reserve is linked to preserved brain volume in key areas, suggesting early engagement may protect against HD progression.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Neurology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Lifelong cognitive engagement shows benefits in Huntington's disease (HD).
  • The impact of cognitive engagement on motor and psychiatric progression in HD, and its neurobiological underpinnings, are not well understood.
  • Cognitive reserve may influence non-cognitive domains in various populations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of lifelong cognitive engagement on the progression of cognitive, motor, and psychiatric symptoms in HD.
  • To explore the neurobiological basis of this association using neuroimaging.
  • To determine if cognitive engagement influences brain volume changes in HD patients.

Main Methods:

  • Forty-five HD individuals completed the Cognitive Reserve Questionnaire (CRQ).
  • Longitudinal clinical evaluations and neuroimaging (voxel-based morphometry) were performed on subsets of participants.
  • Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to analyze the relationship between CRQ scores and clinical/imaging data.

Main Results:

  • Higher CRQ scores correlated with reduced overall severity and slower longitudinal progression across cognitive, motor, and psychiatric domains in HD.
  • Individuals with higher CRQ scores exhibited less gray matter volume loss in the middle frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, and middle cingulate.
  • These brain regions are critical for executive function, action initiation, and behavioral regulation.

Conclusions:

  • Lifelong cognitive engagement may protect against HD progression across multiple domains.
  • Preservation of gray matter volume in key neural hubs may mediate the benefits of cognitive reserve.
  • Early cognitive engagement, even before HD diagnosis, could be a protective strategy.

Keywords:
Brain maintenanceCognitive engagementGray matter volumeHuntington’s diseaseLongitudinalNeurodegeneration

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