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Longitudinal mapping of cortical surface changes in Huntington’s Disease

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Abstract

This paper investigated cortical folding in Huntington’s disease to understand how disease progression impacts the surface of the cortex. Cortical morphometry changes in eight gyral based regions of interest (i.e. the left and right hemispheres of the lateral occipital, precentral, superior frontal and rostral middle gyri) were examined. We used existing neuroimaging data from IMAGE-HD, comprising 26 pre-symptomatic, 26 symptomatic and 24 healthy control individuals at three separate time points (baseline, 18-month, 30-month). Local gyrification index and cortical thickness were derived as the measures of cortical morphometry using FreeSurfer 6.0’s longitudinal pipeline. The gyral based regions of interest were identified using the Desikan-Killiany Atlas. A Group by Time repeated measures ANCOVA was conducted for each region of interest. We found significantly lower LGI at a group level in the right hemisphere lateral occipital region and both hemispheres of the precentral region; as well as significantly reduced cortical thickness at a group level in both hemispheres of the lateral occipital and precentral regions and the right hemisphere of the superior frontal region. We also found a Group by Time interaction for Local gyrification index in the right hemisphere lateral occipital region. This change was largely driven by a significant decrease in the symptomatic group between baseline and 18-months. Additionally, lower local gyrification index and cortical thickness were associated with higher disease burden score. These findings demonstrate that significant longitudinal decline in right hemisphere local gyrification index is evident during manifest disease in lateral occipital cortex and that these changes are more profound in individuals with greater disease burden score.

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All data and materials were collected as part of the IMAGE-HD study and are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge all the participants who contributed to this study, the CHDI Foundation Inc. New York (USA), and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for funding IMAGE-HD. We would also like to thank the Royal Children’s Hospital Murdoch Children’s Research Institute for the use of their MRI scanners.

Funding

This work was supported by the CHDI Foundation Inc. New York (USA) (Grant Number A: 3433) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (Grant Number: 606650) for funding IMAGE-HD. Alex Fornito was additionally supported by the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological Sciences, The Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Brendan Tan, Rosita Shishegar, Alex Fornito, Govinda Poudel & Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis

  2. The Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia

    Rosita Shishegar

  3. Monash Biomedical Imaging, 770 Blackburn Road, 3800, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Rosita Shishegar & Alex Fornito

  4. Sydney Imaging, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2050, Australia

    Govinda Poudel

  5. The Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia

    Govinda Poudel

  6. Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis

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Contributions

Author contributions included conception and study design (All authors) statistical analysis (BT), interpretation of results (all authors), drafting the manuscript work or revising it critically for important intellectual content (BT, RS, AF and NGK) and approval of final version to be published and agreement to be accountable for the integrity and accuracy of all aspects of the work (All authors).

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Correspondence to Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis.

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Ethical Approval was provided by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Review Committee (Project ID: 14105).

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This study used data collected for the IMAGE-HD study, as such informed consent had previously been obtained.

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Tan, B., Shishegar, R., Fornito, A. et al. Longitudinal mapping of cortical surface changes in Huntington’s Disease. Brain Imaging and Behavior 16, 1381–1391 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00625-2

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