Quantitative brain morphometry identifies cerebellar, cortical, and subcortical gray and white matter atrophy in late-onset Tay-Sachs disease

Cerebellar atrophy is a characteristic sign of late-onset Tay-Sachs disease (LOTS). Other structural neuroimaging abnormalities are inconsistently reported. Our study aimed to perform a detailed whole-brain analysis and quantitatively characterize morphometric changes in LOTS patients. Fourteen patients (8 M/6F) with LOTS from three centers were included in this retrospective study. For morphometric brain analyses, we used deformation-based morphometry, voxel-based morphometry, surface-based morphometry, and spatially unbiased cerebellar atlas template. The quantitative whole-brain morphometric analysis confirmed the finding of profound pontocerebellar atrophy with most affected cerebellar lobules V and VI in LOTS patients. Additionally, the atrophy of structures mainly involved in motor control, including bilateral ventral and lateral thalamic nuclei, primary motor and sensory cortex, supplementary motor area, and white matter regions containing corticospinal tract, was present. The atrophy of the right amygdala, hippocampus, and regions of occipital, parietal and temporal white matter was also observed in LOTS patients in contrast with controls (p < 0.05, FWE corrected). Patients with dysarthria and those initially presenting with ataxia had more severe cerebellar atrophy. Our results show predominant impairment of cerebellar regions responsible for speech and hand motor function in LOTS patients. Widespread morphological changes of motor cortical and subcortical regions and tracts in white matter indicate abnormalities in central motor circuits likely coresponsible for impaired speech and motor function.

Lysosomal Diseases and Neuropsychiatry: Opportunities to Rebalance the Mind

The brain is the physical organ of the mind but efforts to understand mental illness within a neurobiological context have hitherto been unavailing. Mental disorders (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia) affect about one fifth of the population and present an almost endless societal challenge at the frontier of human sciences. Prodigious technological advances in functional neuroimaging and large-scale genetics have not yet delivered the prospect of refined molecular understanding of mental illness beyond early anatomical descriptions of brain metabolism. However, intensive clinical phenotyping and quantitative metabolic studies using sophisticated radio-ligands in positron-emission tomography, persistently favor the neurobiological approach. This Perspective pursues a familiar maxim in Medicine, aptly summarized in the words of Arthur Koestler: “Nature is generous in her senseless experiments on mankind.” Hitherto, studies in neuropsychiatry have largely ignored rare genetic disorders but derangements of specific components within the cerebral laboratory offer rich opportunities for mechanistic exploration. Aberrant psychic behavior is characteristic of many inborn errors of metabolism and although each disorder represents a universe of its own, we are at a threshold for understanding, since contemporary genetics and cell biology furnish abundant materials to take on the perturbing enigma of mental derangement. A further development relates to orphan drugs with actions on defined molecular targets: these represent new ways to study the pathogenesis of psychiatric phenomena associated with rare diseases and in a manner not formerly possible. Here we introduce the frontier of schizophrenia and its strong association with late-onset Tay-Sachs disease as a paradigm to explore.

Atypical presentation of late-onset Tay-Sachs disease

INTRODUCTION

Late-onset Tay-Sachs disease (LOTS) is a lysosomal storage disease caused by deficient Beta-hexosaminidase A activity.

METHODS

We describe a 53-year-old woman who presented with adult-onset leg weakness, and whose initial diagnosis was progressive muscular atrophy without identifiable etiology. Development of cerebellar ataxia in mid-life prompted reassessment.

RESULTS

Beta-hexosaminidase A quantification assay demonstrated absence of the isozyme. Genetic testing identified compound heterozygous mutations in the HEXA gene, confirming the diagnosis of LOTS.

CONCLUSIONS

The phenotypic spectrum of LOTS includes motor neuronopathy, ataxia, choreoathetosis, neuropathy, and psychiatric symptoms in various combinations. This patient highlights the emergence of different clinical features over many years and emphasizes the need to consider LOTS in the differential diagnosis of progressive muscular atrophy.