title: Altered diffusion tensor imaging measurements in aged transgenic Huntington disease rats.
abstract: Rodent models of Huntington disease (HD) are valuable tools for investigating HD pathophysiology and evaluating new therapeutic approaches. Non-invasive characterization of HD-related phenotype changes is important for monitoring progression of pathological processes and possible effects of interventions. The first transgenic rat model for HD exhibits progressive late-onset affective, cognitive, and motor impairments, as well as neuropathological features reflecting observations from HD patients. In this report, we contribute to the anatomical phenotyping of this model by comparing high-resolution ex vivo DTI measurements obtained in aged transgenic HD rats and wild-type controls. By region of interest analysis supplemented by voxel-based statistics, we find little evidence of atrophy in basal ganglia regions, but demonstrate altered DTI measurements in the dorsal and ventral striatum, globus pallidus, entopeduncular nucleus, substantia nigra, and hippocampus. These changes are largely compatible with DTI findings in preclinical and clinical HD patients. We confirm earlier reports that HD rats express a moderate neuropathological phenotype, and provide evidence of altered DTI measures in specific HD-related brain regions, in the absence of pronounced morphometric changes.
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Bjørnar T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Antonsen
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Veraart
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Huu Phuc
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sijbers
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: von Hörsten
authors.forename: G Allan
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Trygve B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Leergaard
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D055647:Rats, Transgenic; D019680:Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C086055:HTT protein, human; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins