Rate of torque development and striatal shape in individuals with prodromal Huntington's disease

Travis Cruickshank,Tim Rankin,Govinda Poudel,Danielle M Bartlett,Alvaro Reyes,Mel Ziman,Timothy S Pulverenti,Gabriel S Trajano,Anthony J Blazevich

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72042-2

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to quantify explosive joint torque or the ability to develop joint torque rapidly, typically measured as the rate of torque development, in individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease and healthy controls and its associations with measures of disease burden and striatal pathology. Twenty prodromal Huntington’s disease and 19 healthy control individuals volunteered for this study. Plantar flexor isometric rate of torque development values were evaluated using isokinetic dynamometry. Pathological changes in striatal shape were evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging. Disease burden was evaluated using the disease burden score and cytosine-adenine-guanine age product score. No statistical differences in the rate of torque development were observed between individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease and healthy controls. However, significant associations were observed between the rate of torque development values and measures of disease burden (r = −0.42 to −0.69) and striatal pathology (r = 0.71–0.60) in individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease. We found significant associations between lower rate of torque development values and greater striatal shape deflation and disease burden and striatal pathology in individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease. While no significant differences in the rate of torque development were found between prodromal Huntington’s disease and healthy controls, the noted associations suggest that differences may emerge as the disease advances, which should be investigated longitudinally in future studies.

Highlights

The aim of the present study was to quantify explosive joint torque or the ability to develop joint torque rapidly, typically measured as the rate of torque development, in individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease and healthy controls and its associations with measures of disease burden and striatal pathology
This study evaluated, for the first time, rate of joint torque development (RTD) and its association with striatal pathology, postural stability and clinical disease outcomes in individuals with pro-Huntington’s disease (HD) and healthy controls (HC)
Evaluation of the relationships between RTD and measures of striatal pathology, postural stability, and clinical disease outcomes revealed that greater striatal pathology, postural instability and disease burden was associated with reduced RTD in prodromal HD (pro-HD)

Summary

Introduction

The aim of the present study was to quantify explosive joint torque or the ability to develop joint torque rapidly, typically measured as the rate of torque development, in individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease and healthy controls and its associations with measures of disease burden and striatal pathology. Significant associations were observed between the rate of torque development values and measures of disease burden (r = −0.42 to −0.69) and striatal pathology (r = 0.71–0.60) in individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease. We found significant associations between lower rate of torque development values and greater striatal shape deflation and disease burden and striatal pathology in individuals with prodromal Huntington’s disease. RTD has been shown to be a sensitive predictor of motor symptom severity in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD)[13,14] as well as upper limb function in people with multiple sclerosis (MS)[15] These latter findings are relevant as individuals with PD and MS exhibit striatal degeneration, which is the principle neuropathological feature of HD and is a key structure involved in the regulation of movement.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion