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Riluzole protects Huntington disease patients from brain glucose hypometabolism and grey matter volume loss and increases production of neurotrophins

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Abstract

Purpose

Huntington disease (HD) mutation increases gain-of-toxic functions contributing to glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity. Riluzole interferes with glutamatergic neurotransmission, thereby reducing excitotoxicity, enhancing neurite formation in damaged motoneurons and increasing serum concentrations of BDNF, a brain cortex neurotrophin protecting striatal neurons from degeneration.

Methods

We investigated metabolic and volumetric differences in distinct brain areas between 11 riluzole-treated and 12 placebo-treated patients by MRI and 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) PET scanning, according to fully automated protocols. We also investigated the influence of riluzole on peripheral growth factor blood levels.

Results

Placebo-treated patients showed significantly greater proportional volume loss of grey matter and decrease in metabolic FDG uptake than patients treated with riluzole in all cortical areas (p<0.05). The decreased rate of metabolic FDG uptake correlated with worsening clinical scores in placebo-treated patients, compared to those who were treated with riluzole. The progressive decrease in metabolic FDG uptake observed in the frontal, parietal and occipital cortex correlated linearly with the severity of motor scores calculated by Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS-I) in placebo-treated patients. Similarly, the rate of metabolic changes in the frontal and temporal areas of the brain cortex correlated linearly with worsening behavioural scores calculated by UHDRS-III in the placebo-treated patients. Finally, BDNF and transforming growth factor beta-1 serum levels were significantly higher in patients treated with riluzole.

Conclusion

The linear correlation between decreased metabolic FDG uptake and worsening clinical scores in the placebo-treated patients suggests that FDG-PET may be a valuable procedure to assess brain markers of HD.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Jenny Sassone for providing help in setting up the ELISA analysis of patients’ serum. We also thank the European Huntington’s Disease (EURO-HD) Network, the patients’ family association ‘Associazione Italiana Corea di Huntington-Neuromed’, the Italian Society of Hospital Neurologists (S.N.O., ‘lascito Gobessi’) and the Italian Health Ministry (COFIN 2006; finalizzato ex art.56 2007), for their support to F.S. The financial support of Telethon-Italy to F.S. (grant no. GGP06181) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurogenetics Unit & Centre for Rare Disease, IRCCS Neuromed, Località Camerelle, 86077, Pozzilli, Italy

    Ferdinando Squitieri, Sara Orobello, Milena Cannella & Tiziana Martino

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy

    Pantaleo Romanelli

  3. Unit of Nuclear Medicine, S. Andrea Hospital, via Vittorio Veneto, 197, La Spezia, Italy

    Giampiero Giovacchini & Andrea Ciarmiello

  4. Department of Experimental Medicine, University “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Luigi Frati

  5. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy

    Luigi Mansi

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  1. Ferdinando Squitieri
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  9. Andrea Ciarmiello
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Correspondence to Ferdinando Squitieri or Andrea Ciarmiello.

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Squitieri, F., Orobello, S., Cannella, M. et al. Riluzole protects Huntington disease patients from brain glucose hypometabolism and grey matter volume loss and increases production of neurotrophins. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 36, 1113–1120 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-009-1103-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-009-1103-3

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