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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
09:06
Whole-brain Segmentation and Change-point Analysis of Anatomical Brain MRI—Application in Premanifest Huntington's Disease
Published on: June 9, 2018
Visuospatial working memory in Huntington's disease: behavioural and structural brain correlates
Marine Lunven1,2, Pamela Van Den Enden3,2, Andrès Gil Salcedo3,2
1Département d'Etudes Cognitives, PSL University, Paris, France marine.lunven@u-pec.fr.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
|July 1, 2026
Summary
Huntington
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Neurology
Background:
- Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) deficits are early indicators in Huntington's disease (HD), preceding motor symptoms.
- These deficits likely stem from early disruptions in cortico-striatal circuits.
- The precise cognitive components and brain correlates of VSWM decline in HD are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the progression of VSWM deficits across different stages of Huntington's disease (HD).
- To identify the structural brain correlates associated with these VSWM deficits.
- To investigate the utility of the object-location task (OLT) for detecting cognitive decline in HD.
Main Methods:
- A prospective international study involving 92 Huntington's disease mutation carriers (HDmc) and 39 healthy controls.
- Cognitive assessments using the object-location task (OLT) and structural MRI were performed at baseline, with a 1-year follow-up for a subset of participants.
- MRI analyses focused on striatal (caudate, putamen), hippocampal volumes, and cortical thickness.
Main Results:
- Premanifest HD showed increased location error and spatial imprecision, correlating with striatal atrophy and parietal/cingulate cortical thinning.
- Manifest HD individuals exhibited swap errors and hippocampal atrophy, with both error types worsening over time.
- Principal component analysis revealed distinct striato-cortically mediated location deficits and hippocampally mediated binding errors, supporting a hierarchical VSWM decline model.
Conclusions:
- Huntington's disease-related VSWM impairment progresses through distinct stages with specific anatomical correlates.
- The object-location task (OLT) provides sensitive, mechanistic markers for cognitive decline in HD.
- These markers have potential for early detection and stratification in clinical trials for Huntington's disease.
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