title: Saccadic latency is prolonged in Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 2 and correlates with the frontal-executive dysfunctions.
abstract: Data on saccadic latency in patients with Spinocerebellar Ataxia 2 (SCA2) are sparse and contradictory. In order to determine whether saccadic latency is definitely prolonged, identify its possible determinants and evaluate it as disease biomarker we assessed the saccadic latency by electronystagmography in 110 SCA2 patients and their paired controls. Mean saccadic latencies were significantly longer in patients when compared to controls for all tested target displacements. Forty-six percent of SCA2 patients had saccadic latencies above the normal range. Reciprobit plots of saccadic latency demonstrated a skewed distribution in the direction of longer latencies for the patients compared to controls. As saccadic latency increased, the velocity and amplitude of saccades significantly decreased in SCA2 subjects but not in controls. Saccadic latency was not influenced by any demographical, clinical or molecular SCA2 variables, but it showed a significant correlation with the performance of the Stroop test, the verbal fluency test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in SCA2 patients. This paper demonstrated that saccadic latency is prolonged in SCA2 patients and it significantly correlates with the performance of frontal-executive functions, thus this parameter could be a useful biomarker to evaluate the efficiency of future therapeutical options on these dysfunctions.
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Research and Rehabilitation of Hereditary Ataxias, Holguín, Cuba.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Labrada
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Velázquez-Pérez
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Seigfried
authors.forename: Nalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Canales-Ochoa
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Auburger
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Medrano-Montero
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Cruz
authors.forename: Raúl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aguilera-Rodríguez
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laffita-Mesa
authors.forename: Yaimeé
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Mojena
authors.forename: Marisleydis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verdecia-Ramirez
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Motta
authors.forename: Yudith
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Quevedo-Batista
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000067528:Ataxins; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D020754:Spinocerebellar Ataxias / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D019680:Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000067528:Ataxins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins