Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease
نویسندگان
چکیده
The aim of this study was to describe the effects of varenicline, a smoking cessation aid that acts as a nicotinic agonist, on cognitive function in patients with early clinical Huntington's disease (HD) who were current smokers. Three gene-positive patients transitioning to symptomatic HD were evaluated using the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale part I and III (motor and behavioral subscales) at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment. Cognitive function was assessed using a touch screen computer-based neurocognitive test battery (IntegNeuro®). Varenicline (1 mg twice daily) significantly improved performance in executive function and emotional recognition tasks. Our case reports describe no clinically significant adverse effects and suggest that varenicline improves aspects of cognitive function in patients with early HD. A randomized controlled study is now underway.
منابع مشابه
Huntington's disease.
Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c3109 doi: 10.1136/bmj.c3109 Huntington’s disease is a devastating inherited neurodegenerative disease characterised by progressive motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms. Patients may present with any of these symptoms, and familiarity with the phenotype is therefore important. Chorea and loss of balance are early symptoms that patients notice, although families ...
متن کاملTime-Restricted Feeding Improves Circadian Dysfunction as well as Motor Symptoms in the Q175 Mouse Model of Huntington’s Disease
Huntington's disease (HD) patients suffer from a progressive neurodegeneration that results in cognitive, psychiatric, cardiovascular, and motor dysfunction. Disturbances in sleep/wake cycles are common among HD patients with reports of delayed sleep onset, frequent bedtime awakenings, and fatigue during the day. The heterozygous Q175 mouse model of HD has been shown to phenocopy many HD core s...
متن کاملThe Role of Hypothalamic and Neuroendocrine Changes in the Pathogenesis of Huntington’s Disease – Current Understanding and Implications for Future Treatments
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder that leads to premature death. There is no satisfactory treatment or cure. The disease is caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene. The clinical features are characterised by progressive motor symptoms, including chorea, which currently defines the clinical diagnosis of the disease. The motor aspect of HD is tho...
متن کاملA clinical classification acknowledging neuropsychiatric and cognitive impairment in Huntington’s disease
BACKGROUND Involuntary movements, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and cognitive impairment are all part of the symptom triad in Huntington's disease (HD). Despite the fact that neuropsychiatric symptoms and cognitive decline may be early manifestations of HD, the clinical diagnosis is conventionally based on the presence of involuntary movements and a positive genetic test for the HD CAG repeat expa...
متن کاملEllagic acid improves hyperalgesia and cognitive deficiency in 6-hydroxidopamine induced rat model of Parkinson’s disease
Objective(s):Parkinson's disease (PD) is known for motor impairments. But often, there are non-motor symptoms such as cognitive deficiency and pain misperception, owing to possible role of nigrostriatal pathway. Antioxidants have protective effect on free radical-induced neuronal damage in PD. To further address, we examined the effects of ellagic acid (EA) in a rat model of PD induced by 6-hyd...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره 12 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2016