Characterising the Structural Language Network in Huntington’s Disease: a DTI Tractography study
Huntington’s disease is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder with considerable heterogeneity in its presentation and progression. Although, diagnosis is classically characterised by the onset of motor symptoms, abnormalities in cognitive and language processing have been shown to predate these in pre-symptomatic stages, and may therefore serve as potential biomarkers. Much of Huntington’s disease symptomatology has been explored within the context of neurodegeneration of the primary neural substrate—the striatum—and its fronto-striatal white matter circuitry, yet the exact role of these structures in linguistic processing remains ambiguous. To date, no studies have examined the relationship between white matter deterioration in the language network and linguistic deficits in affected individuals. The present study therefore seeks to identify microstructural alterations in language-related white matter tracts, describe spatial-temporal patterns of neurodegeneration, and explore correlations with language abilities. Using probabilistic DTI tractography on diffusion-MRI data, five association tracts of the language network were reconstructed and analysed. Preliminary results indicate a systematic course of neurodegeneration: early involvement of fronto-dorsal pathways in pre-symptomatic stages, potential neuroplastic reorganisation in posterior tracts, and relative preservation of ventral pathways implicated in language processing.
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