14 Sep 21. Featured Paper

Fixel-based analysis effectively identifies white matter tract degeneration in huntington’s disease

Link to paper on Frontiers in Neuroscience 

Authors

Sher Li Oh, Chiung-Mei Chen, Yih-Ru Wu, Maria Valdes Hernandez, Chih-Chien Tsai, Jur-Shan Cheng, Yao-Liang Chen, Yi-Ming Wu, Yu-Chun Lin & Jiun-Jie Wang

Abstract

Microstructure damage in white matter might be linked to regional & global atrophy in Huntington’s Disease (HD).

We hypothesize that degeneration of subcortical regions, including the basal ganglia, is associated with damage of white matter tracts linking these affected regions.

We aim to use fixel-based analysis to identify microstructural changes in the white matter tracts.

To further assess the associated gray matter damage, diffusion tensor-derived indices were measured from regions of interest located in the basal ganglia.

Diffusion weighted images were acquired from 12 patients with HD & 12 healthy unrelated controls using a 3 Tesla scanner.

Reductions in fixel-derived metrics occurs in major white matter tracts, noticeably in corpus callosum, internal capsule, & the corticospinal tract, which were closely co-localized with the regions of increased diffusivity in basal ganglia.

These changes in diffusion can be attributed to potential axonal degeneration.

Fixel-based analysis is effective in studying white matter tractography & fiber changes in HD.

Keywords

• Diffusion-tensor imaging
• Fixel-based analysis
• Huntington’s Disease
• Magnetic resonance imaging
• Neurodegeneration