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Abstract #0381

Elevated Arteriolar Cerebral Blood Volume in Prodromal Huntingtons Disease

Jun Hua1, 2, Paul G. Unschuld3, 4, Russell L. Margolis3, 5, Peter C.M. van Zijl1, 2, Christopher A. Ross3, 6

1Neurosection, Div. of MRI Research, Dept. of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 4Division of Psychiatry Research and Psychogeriatric Medicine, University of Zrich, Zrich, Switzerland; 5Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 6Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

Neurovascular alterations have been implicated in the pathophysiology of Huntingtons Disease (HD). As arterioles are most responsive to metabolic alterations, arteriolar cerebral blood volume (CBVa) is an important indicator of cerebrovascular regulation. We show that cortical CBVa, measured with the inflow-based vascular-space-occupancy (iVASO) MRI technique, is significantly elevated in prodromal HD patients, and this effect correlates with genetic measures. By contrast, no significant brain atrophy was detected in these prodromal HD patients. Our results suggest CBVa as a potential biomarker prior to prominent brain atrophy in prodromal HD.

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Keywords

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