Testing a longitudinal compensation model in premanifest Huntington's disease.

ABSTRACT: The initial stages of neurodegeneration are commonly marked by normal levels of cognitive and motor performance despite the presence of structural brain pathology. Compensation is widely assumed to account for this preserved behaviour, but despite the apparent simplicity of such a concept, it has proven incredibly difficult to demonstrate such a phenomenon and distinguish it from disease-related pathology. Recently, we developed a model of compensation whereby brain activation, behaviour and pathology, components key to understanding compensation, have specific longitudinal trajectories over three phases of progression. Here, we empirically validate our explicit mathematical model by testing for the presence of compensation over time in neurodegeneration. Huntington's disease is an ideal m

SUBMITTER: Gregory S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6022638 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature