The neural effects of exercise in Huntington's disease (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effects of acute exercise in Huntington’s disease, assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Version 1)
IRAS ID
170569
Contact name
Jessica Steventon
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 4 months, 10 days
Research summary
The health benefits of exercise are far-reaching and well-established. Alongside the physical health benefits, a growing literature strongly suggests that aerobic exercise may attenuate cognitive impairment and reduce dementia risk in healthy people. In a range of neurodegenerative diseases, research suggests that physical exercise may reduce cognitive decline and improve symptoms.
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disease characterised by cell death in specific parts of the brain, and dementia is a major component of the disease. It is known that blood flow may be reduced in certain parts of the brain in HD, and this can affect the way people with HD think, concentrate, formulate ideas, reason and remember. There is some evidence that exercise can improve the symptoms in HD, although the mechanism between exercise and improved health in HD is not known. This study aims is to characterise how the brain responds to exercise in order to understand the mechanism leading to broader health benefits. In healthy people, increases in cardiorespiratory fitness caused by exercise training have been associated with increased cerebral blood flow. This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a non-invasive technique which uses powerful magnetic fields to inform on exercise-induced changes in tissue structure, as well as cerebral vasculature and metabolism. We will compare how the brain responds to acute exercise in HD participants and healthy controls.
In this study, asymptomatic/ early symptomatic gene positive HD patients and healthy controls will be recruited from the South Wales HD service. Multiple scans will be acquired in 2 MRI sessions each lasting approximately 60 minutes, with a single 20-minute session of exercise between the two scan sessions.REC name
Wales REC 2
REC reference
15/WA/0074
Date of REC Opinion
24 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion