Jie Jiang1,
2, Tayeb Ahmad Rahim1, Chunxia Li, 13, Yumei Yan1,
4, Xiaodong Zhang, 35, Hui Mao6, 7,
Anthony W.S Chan, 25
1Division
of Neuropharmacology and Neurologic Disease, Yerkes National Primate
Research Center, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA, United States; 2Department of Human Genetics, Emory
University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States; 3Yerkes
Imaging Center,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA, United States; 4Yerkes Imaging Center,Yerkes National
Primate Research Center, , Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; 5Division
of Neuropharmacology and Neurologic Disease, Yerkes National Primate Research
Center,, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; 6Department
of Radiology, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, United States; 7Center
for Systems Imaging, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
Huntington Disease (HD) is devastating neurodegenerative disorder that, to date remains incurable. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) studies have demonstrated decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in both presymptomatic and early stage HD individuals. Our group has developed the HD transgenic group consisted of 4 males generated through a lentiviral-mediated protocol, using four age-matched wild-type monkeys as control. We report here the first longitudinal DTI measurement in HD monkeys and the potential clinical application of DTI for monitoring HD progression. The purpose of the current study is to examine longitudinal changes of brian white matter using DTI in the transgenic HD monkeys.