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Vaca-Palomares I, Brien DC, Coe BC, Ochoa-Morales A, Martínez-Ruano L, Munoz DP, Fernandez-Ruiz J. Implicit learning impairment identified via predictive saccades in Huntington's disease correlates with extended cortico-striatal atrophy. Cortex 2019; 121:89-103. [PMID: 31550618 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 05/02/2019] [Accepted: 06/29/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
The ability to anticipate events and execute motor commands prior to a sensory event is an essential capability for human's everyday life. This implicitly learned anticipatory behavior depends on the past performance of repeated sensorimotor interactions timed with external cues. This kind of predictive behavior has been shown to be compromised in neurological disorders such as Huntington disease (HD), in which neural atrophy includes key cortical and basal ganglia regions. To investigate the neural basis of the anticipatory behavioral deficits in HD we used a predictive-saccade paradigm that requires predictive control to generate saccades in a metronomic temporal pattern. This is ideal because the integrity of the oculomotor network that includes the striatum and prefrontal, parietal, occipital and temporal cortices can be analyzed using structural MRI. Our results showed that the HD patients had severe predictive saccade deficits (i.e., an inability to reduce saccade reaction time in predictive condition), which are accentuated in patients with more severe motor deterioration. Structural imaging analyses revealed that these anticipatory deficits correlated with grey-matter atrophy in frontal, parietal-occipital and striatal regions. These findings indicate that the predictive saccade control deficits in HD are related to an extended cortico-striatal atrophy. This suggests that eye movement measurement could be a reliable marker of the progression of cognitive deficits in HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Israel Vaca-Palomares
- Ciencias Cognitivas y del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CDMX, Mexico
| | - Donald C Brien
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Brian C Coe
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Adriana Ochoa-Morales
- Departamento de Genética, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, "Manuel Velasco Suarez", CDMX, Mexico
| | - Leticia Martínez-Ruano
- Departamento de Genética, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, "Manuel Velasco Suarez", CDMX, Mexico
| | - Douglas P Munoz
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Juan Fernandez-Ruiz
- Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CDMX, Mexico.
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Turner LM, Jakabek D, Wilkes FA, Croft RJ, Churchyard A, Walterfang M, Velakoulis D, Looi JCL, Georgiou-Karistianis N, Apthorp D. Striatal morphology correlates with frontostriatal electrophysiological motor processing in Huntington's disease: an IMAGE-HD study. Brain Behav 2016; 6:e00511. [PMID: 28031992 PMCID: PMC5167007 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2015] [Revised: 05/05/2016] [Accepted: 05/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Huntington's disease (HD) causes progressive atrophy to the striatum, a critical node in frontostriatal circuitry. Maintenance of motor function is dependent on functional connectivity of these premotor, motor, and dorsolateral frontostriatal circuits, and structural integrity of the striatum itself. We aimed to investigate whether size and shape of the striatum as a measure of frontostriatal circuit structural integrity was correlated with functional frontostriatal electrophysiological neural premotor processing (contingent negative variation, CNV), to better understand motoric structure-function relationships in early HD. METHODS Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and electrophysiological (EEG) measures of premotor processing were obtained from a combined HD group (12 presymptomatic, 7 symptomatic). Manual segmentation of caudate and putamen was conducted with subsequent shape analysis. Separate correlational analyses (volume and shape) included covariates of age, gender, intracranial volume, and time between EEG and MRI. RESULTS Right caudate volume correlated with early CNV latency over frontocentral regions and late CNV frontally, whereas right caudate shape correlated with early CNV latency centrally. Left caudate volume correlated with early CNV latency over centroparietal regions and late CNV frontally. Right and left putamen volumes correlated with early CNV latency frontally, and right and left putamen shape/volume correlated with parietal CNV slope. CONCLUSIONS Timing (latency) and pattern (slope) of frontostriatal circuit-mediated premotor functional activation across scalp regions were correlated with abnormalities in structural integrity of the key frontostriatal circuit component, the striatum (size and shape). This was accompanied by normal reaction times, suggesting it may be undetected in regular tasks due to preserved motor "performance." Such differences in functional activation may reflect atrophy-based frontostriatal circuitry despecialization and/or compensatory recruitment of additional brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M Turner
- Research School of Psychology College of Medicine, Biology, & Environment Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia
| | - David Jakabek
- Graduate School of Medicine University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia
| | - Fiona A Wilkes
- Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine Australian National University Medical School Canberra Hospital Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia
| | - Rodney J Croft
- School of Psychology & Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia
| | - Andrew Churchyard
- School of Psychological Sciences Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Monash University Monash Victoria Australia; Calvary Health Care Bethlehem Hospital Caulfield Victoria Australia
| | - Mark Walterfang
- Neuropsychiatry Unit Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia
| | - Dennis Velakoulis
- Neuropsychiatry Unit Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia
| | - Jeffrey C L Looi
- Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine Australian National University Medical School Canberra Hospital Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia; Neuropsychiatry Unit Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia
| | - Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis
- School of Psychological Sciences Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Monash University Monash Victoria Australia
| | - Deborah Apthorp
- Research School of Psychology College of Medicine, Biology, & Environment Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia; Graduate School of Medicine University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia
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Despard J, Ternes AM, Dimech-Betancourt B, Poudel G, Churchyard A, Georgiou-Karistianis N. Characterising Upper Limb Movements in Huntington's Disease and the Impact of Restricted Visual Cues. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0133709. [PMID: 26248012 PMCID: PMC4527591 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2014] [Accepted: 07/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Voluntary motor deficits are a common feature in Huntington's disease (HD), characterised by movement slowing and performance inaccuracies. This deficit may be exacerbated when visual cues are restricted. OBJECTIVE To characterize the upper limb motor profile in HD with various levels of difficulty, with and without visual targets. METHODS Nine premanifest HD (pre-HD), nine early symptomatic HD (symp-HD) and nine matched controls completed a motor task incorporating Fitts' law, a model of human movement enabling the quantification of movement timing, via the manipulation of task difficulty (i.e., target size, and distance between targets). The task required participants to make reciprocal movements under cued and blind conditions. Dwell times (time stationary between movements), speed, accuracy and variability of movements were compared between groups. RESULTS Symp-HD showed significantly prolonged and less consistent movement times, compared with controls and pre-HD. Furthermore, movement planning and online control were significantly impaired in symp-HD, compared with controls and pre-HD, evidenced by prolonged dwell times and deceleration times. Speed and accuracy were comparable across groups, suggesting that group differences observed in movement time, variability, dwell time and deceleration time were evident over and above simple performance measures. The presence of cues resulted in greater movement time variability in symp-HD, compared with pre-HD and controls, suggesting that the deficit in movement consistency manifested only in response to targeted movements. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, these findings provide evidence of a deficiency in both motor planning, particularly in relation to movement timing and online control, which became exacerbated as a function of task difficulty during symp-HD stages. These variables may provide a more sensitive measure of motor dysfunction than speed and/or accuracy alone in symp-HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Despard
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Anne-Marie Ternes
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Bleydy Dimech-Betancourt
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Govinda Poudel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative, Life Sciences Computation Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Andrew Churchyard
- Department of Neurology, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- * E-mail:
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Abstract
Transcallosal inhibitory interactions between primary motor cortices are important to suppress unintended movements in a resting limb during voluntary activation of the contralateral limb. The functional contribution of transcallosal inhibition targeting the voluntary active limb remains unknown. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, we examined transcallosal inhibition [by measuring interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) and the ipsilateral silent period (iSP)] in the preparatory and execution phases of isotonic slower self-paced and ballistic movements performed by the ipsilateral index finger into abduction and the elbow into flexion in intact humans. We demonstrate decreased IHI in the preparatory phase of self-paced and ballistic index finger and elbow movements compared to rest; the decrease in IHI was larger during ballistic than self-paced movements. In contrast, in the execution phase, IHI and the iSP increased during ballistic compared to self-paced movements. Transcallosal inhibition was negatively correlated with reaction times in the preparatory phase and positively correlated with movement amplitude in the execution phase. Together, our results demonstrate a widespread contribution of transcallosal inhibition to ipsilateral movements of different speeds with a functional role during rapid movements; at faster speeds, decreased transcallosal inhibition in the preparatory phase may contribute to start movements rapidly, while the increase in the execution phase may contribute to stop the movement. We argue that transcallosal pathways enable signaling of the time of discrete behavioral events during ipsilateral movements, which is amplified by the speed of a movement.
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Lage GM, Malloy-Diniz LF, Neves FS, Gallo LG, Valentini AS, Corrêa H. A kinematic analysis of manual aiming control on euthymic bipolar disorder. Psychiatry Res 2013; 208:140-4. [PMID: 23102536 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.09.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2012] [Revised: 08/08/2012] [Accepted: 09/25/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Motor deficits in tasks that require force steadiness or scaling of movement velocity have been found in bipolar disorder (BD). A potential explanation for these results is the abnormal functioning of the frontostriatal circuitry. We designed this study to investigate the possible impairments in a manual aiming task. Participants comprised 15 euthymic BD patients and 15 healthy controls, who performed 100 trials of a goal-directed manual movement with a non-inking pen on a digitizing tablet. Four different conditions of execution were required. The control condition appeared on the computer screen in 70% of the trials, and the other three conditions, (a) distractor, (b) inhibition of response and (c) higher index of difficulty, each appeared in 10% of the trials. Compared to the controls, the BD patients were less fluent in their movements, relied more heavily on visual feedback to control their manual movements and presented a lower spatial accuracy. We found that motor deficits in euthymic BD were observed in the kinematic analysis of manual aiming. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis of abnormal functioning of the frontostriatal circuitry in euthymic BD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guilherme M Lage
- Departamento de Educação Física da Universidade FUMEC, Rua Cobre 200, Bairro Cruzeiro, 30310-190, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Sociais e da Saúde, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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Rusz J, Klempíř J, Baborová E, Tykalová T, Majerová V, Cmejla R, Růžička E, Roth J. Objective acoustic quantification of phonatory dysfunction in Huntington's disease. PLoS One 2013; 8:e65881. [PMID: 23762447 PMCID: PMC3677914 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0065881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2013] [Accepted: 04/29/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Although speech motor changes are reported as a common sign of Huntington's disease (HD), the most prominent signs of voice dysfunction remain unknown. The aim of the current study was to explore specific changes in phonatory function in subjects with HD. METHOD 34 subjects with HD and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were examined. Participants performed sustained vowel phonation for subsequent analyses of airflow insufficiency, aperiodicity, irregular vibrations of vocal folds, signal perturbations, increased noise, and articulation deficiency. In total, 272 phonations were collected and 12 voice parameters were extracted. Subsequently, a predictive model was built to find the most salient patterns of voice disorders in HD. The results were also correlated with disease severity according to the Unified HD Rating Scale (UHDRS) motor score. RESULTS Subjects with HD showed deterioration in all investigated phonatory functions. Irregular pitch fluctuations, sudden phonation interruption, increased noise, and misplacement of articulators were found to be most significant patterns of phonatory dysfunction in HD (p<0.001). The combination of these four dysphonia aspects contributed to the best classification performance of 94.1% (sensitivity: 95.1%; specificity: 93.2%) in the separation of HD patients from healthy participants. Our results further indicated stronger associations between sudden phonation interruption and voluntary components of the UHDRS (r = -0.48, p<0.01) and between misplacement of articulators and involuntary components of the UHDRS (r = 0.52, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Our configuration of phonatory features can detect subtle voice abnormalities in subjects with HD. As impairment of phonatory function in HD was found to parallel increasing motor involvement, a qualitative description of voice dysfunction may be helpful to gain better insight into the pathophysiology of the vocal mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Rusz
- Department of Circuit Theory, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Prague, Czech Republic.
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Klempír J, Klempírová O, Stochl J, Spacková N, Roth J. The relationship between impairment of voluntary movements and cognitive impairment in Huntington's disease. J Neurol 2009; 256:1629-33. [PMID: 19449086 DOI: 10.1007/s00415-009-5164-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2008] [Revised: 04/09/2009] [Accepted: 04/27/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The relationship between motor symptoms and cognitive impairment in Huntington's disease (HD) is still discussed. We analysed 45 HD patients in various stages using Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale motor subscale (voluntary and involuntary components were evaluated separately), verbal memory and executive functions tests. Partial correlations controlling for HD duration and age were used to estimate the relationships among factor scores for motor and cognitive impairment. Voluntary components of motor performance were found to be significantly correlated with verbal short-term memory disturbances (r = -0.361, P = 0.03), with tests of executive functions more dependent on motor performance (r = 0.640, P < 0.01) and also with tests of executive functions less dependent on motor performance (r = 0.461, P < 0.01). Involuntary components did not correlate significantly with any part of cognitive performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jirí Klempír
- 1st Medical Faculty, Department of Neurology, Charles University, Katerinská 30, 12100 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
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