Abstract
Background:
We investigated the use of a simple novel nut and bolt task in premanifest and manifest Huntington's disease (HD) patients to detect and quantify motor impairments at all stages of the disease.
Methods:
Premanifest HD (n=24), manifest HD (n=27) and control (n=32) participants were asked to screw a nut onto a bolt in one direction, using three different sized bolts with their left and right hand in turn.
Results:
We identified some impairments at all stages of HD and in the premanifest individuals, deficits in the non-dominant hand correlated with disease burden scores.
Conclusion:
This simple, cheap motor task was able to detect motor impairments in both premanifest and manifest HD and as such might be a useful quantifiable measure of motor function for use in clinical studies.
Grants and funding
The work in the John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK was funded by an NIHR award of a Biomedical Research Centre (http://www.nihr.ac.uk/about/biomedical-research-centres.htm) to Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge grant number RG64473. The work in the John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK was also funded by CHDI Foundation (http://chdifoundation.org) grant number RG50786 and Jacques and Gloria Gossweiler Foundation (http://www.jggf.ch/en/) grant number RG77329. Lucy Collins is funded by the Rosetrees Trust (http://www.rosetreestrust.co.uk). Faye Begeti was funded through a Medical Research Council Studentship and James Baird Fund. Sarah L. Mason is funded by an NIHR Clinical Research Network (http://www.nihr.ac.uk/about/biomedical-research-centres.htm) grant number RG64473. The role of the funders was to support salaries and consumables for the project. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.