E23 Functional Brain Correlates Of Psychiatric Function In Presymptomatic Huntington's Disease: The Image-hd Study

Abstract

<h3>Background</h3> Changes in prefrontal brain responses as well as psychiatric deficits are detected in Huntington’s disease (HD) prior to diagnosis. <h3>Aims</h3> This study investigated the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and functional brain activity during working memory performance in individuals with pre-symptomatic hd (pre-hd) using the image-hd data set. <h3>Methods/techniques</h3> Pre-HD far from onset (pre-hd far, n = 17), pre-hd close to onset (pre-hd close, n = 18), and control (n = 32) groups completed an n-back task (0, 1 and 2-back) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Brain regions of interest included the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlpfc) and anterior cingulate cortex (acc). Correlations were performed between blood-oxygen-level-dependent (bold) activity in each brain region and scores on a battery of neuropsychiatric inventories, while controlling for age, gender, and accuracy on the n-back task. <h3>Results/outcome</h3> For both 1- and 2-back conditions, significant negative correlations were found in the pre-hd close group between neuropsychiatric disturbance and bold activation in both the right dlpfc and acc. During 2-back, a significant negative correlation was found in the pre-hd far group between depression symptoms and right dlpfc bold. For 1-back, no significant correlations were found in the pre-hd far group. <h3>Conclusions</h3> These findings suggest that as pre-hd individuals approach onset, increased psychiatric disturbance is associated with decreased functional brain activity, which becomes more wide-spread during higher working memory loads.