Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28579146›Full record

ArticleNeuroscience2019

Myelin Breakdown in Human Huntington's Disease: Multi-Modal Evidence from Diffusion MRI and Quantitative Magnetization Transfer.

José Bourbon-Teles, Sonya Bells, Derek K Jones, Elizabeth Coulthard, Anne Rosser, Claudia Metzler-Baddeley

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed
3.6field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed, 76 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review of in vitro approaches for assessing the toxicity of chemical stressors across diverse physiological systems.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

José Bourbon-TelesCardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, and Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, UK.
Sonya BellsCardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, and Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, UK.
Derek K JonesCardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, and Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, UK; School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Victoria, Australia.
Elizabeth CoulthardClinical Neurosciences, Bristol University, UK.
Anne RosserBrain Repair Group, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK.
Claudia Metzler-BaddeleyCardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, and Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, UK. Electronic address: metzler-baddeleyc@cardiff.ac.uk.
Cardiff University · GBUniversity of Bristol · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council G0801418Medical Research Council G9810900Medical Research Council MR/L010305/1Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 096646/Z/11/ZWellcome Trust 506408
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) leads to white matter (WM) degeneration that may be due to an early breakdown in axon myelination but in vivo imaging correlates of demyelination remain relatively unexplored in HD compared to other neurodegenerative diseases. This study investigated HD-related effects on a putative marker of myelin, the macromolecular proton fraction (MMPF) from quantitative magnetization transfer and on fractional anisotropy, axial and radial diffusivity from diffusion tensor MR-imaging. Microstructural differences were studied in WM pathways of the basal ganglia and motor systems known to be impaired in HD: the corpus callosum, the cortico-spinal tract, the anterior thalamic radiation, fibers between prefrontal cortex and caudate and between supplementary motor area and putamen. Principal component analysis was employed for dimensionality reduction. Patients showed reductions in a component with high loadings on MMPF in all WM pathways and a trend for increases in a component loading on axial and radial diffusivities but no differences in a component loading on fractional anisotropy. While patients' performance in executive functioning was impaired, their working memory span was preserved. Inter-individual differences in the diffusivity component correlated with patients' performance in clinical measures of the United Huntington Disease Rating Scale. In summary, HD-related reductions in MMPF suggest that myelin breakdown contributes to WM impairment in human HD and emphasize the potential of quantitative MRI metrics to inform about disease pathogenesis. Disease severity in manifest HD, however, was best captured by non-specific diffusivity metrics sensitive to multiple disease and age-related changes.

Indexed as

Magnetic Resonance ImagingAdultBrainCognitionExecutive FunctionFemaleHumansHuntington DiseaseImaging, Three-DimensionalMaleMemory, Short-TermMiddle AgedMultimodal ImagingMyelin SheathNeural PathwaysOrgan Sizebasal gangliaclinical markerscognitionHuntington’s diseasemyelinwhite matter

Identifiers

PMID28579146
PMCPMC6458992
OpenAlexW2620902339

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.