Clinical trial NCT05943054: Striatum and Hippocampus on Different Time Scales
Official title: Role of the Striatum and Hippocampus on Different Time Scales
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Huntington Disease
Alzheimer Disease
Keywords: Time processing
Huntington's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Striatum
Hippocampus
Lead sponsor: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-07-12
Enrollment: 104
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 90
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Time processing is fundamental to survival and goal reaching in humans. Different time scales (seconds, minutes, and beyond) are processed through specific cognitive processes involving different neural representations. It is generally agreed that time scale in seconds-to-minutes range named "interval timing" would be anatomically linked to the striatum. Indeed, it is possible to demonstrate a deficit of interval timing processes in patients suffering from striatal damage (Huntington's disease). However, recent findings show involvement of a second brain structure, the hippocampus, in interval timing processing in the minutes range, suggesting an interaction between the striatum and hippocampus. Presumably, patients with hippocampal damage (Alzheimer's disease) would specifically show a decrease in performance for this minutes-range time scale. This study aims to provide a better understanding of the role of the striatum in the treatment of time and its interactions with other brain structures such as the hippocampus. More specifically, it is unclear whether the striatum plays a platform role that would always be involved regardless of the time scale, as suggested by the unified model of time or whether different brain structures is solicited according to the time scale, as suggested by the modular system model. In order to elucidate these issues, a potential double dissociation between brain structures and time scales will be tested.

Detailed description: In that aim, we will evaluate patients with Huntington's disease and patients with Alzheimer's disease by developing and using time processing paradigms comparing short and long time scales.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Huntington's disease gene carriers

  * Patient included in the BioHD protocol
  * Age from 18 to 90 years old
  * Symptomatic patient
  * TFC ≥ 11
  * UHDRS motor\> 5
  * Native language: French
  * Affiliation to a social security or to another social protection
  * Signature of informed consent

    • Patients with Alzheimer's disease
  * MMS from 20 to 26 (included)
  * Age: from 60 to 90 years old
  * Native language: French
  * Progressive deterioration of memory reported by patient or caregiver for more than 6 months
  * Profile at RL /RI 16: no significant improvement with indexing
  * Episodic memory disorder isolated or associated with other cognitive disorders
  * MRI: Atrophy of the median temporal lobe
  * Affiliation to a social security or to another social protection
  * Signature of informed consent

    • Healthy subjects
  * Healthy subject included in the BioHD protocol
  * MMS ≥ 26
  * Age from 18 to 90 years old
  * Native language: French
  * Affiliation to a social security or to another social protection
  * Signature of informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Huntington's disease gene carriers

  * Intellectual deterioration preventing understanding of the protocol
  * Other dementia than Huntington's disease
  * Patient living alone at home
  * Major depression
  * Patient under legal protection
  * Patient deprived of liberty
  * Pregnant or breastfeeding woman, situation known to the investigator
  * Inability to handle an electronic tablet
* Patients with Alzheimer's disease

  * Intellectual deterioration preventing understanding of the protocol
  * Patient living alone at home
  * Sudden onset of memory impairment
  * Early onset of the following symptoms: difficulty in walking, convulsions, changes in behavior
  * Focal neurological characteristics including hemiparesis, sensory loss, visual field deficit
  * Early extrapyramidal sign
  * Other dementia than Alzheimer's disease
  * Major depression
  * Cerebrovascular disease
  * Toxic, metabolic or infectious anomaly
  * Patient under legal protection
  * Patient deprived of liberty
  * Pregnant or breastfeeding woman, situation known to the investigator
  * Inability to handle an electronic tablet
* Healthy subjects

  * Intellectual deterioration preventing understanding of the protocol
  * Known neurological or psychiatric illness
  * Patient under legal protection
  * Subject deprived of liberty
  * Pregnant or breastfeeding woman, situation known to the investigator
  * Inability to handle an electronic tablet

Primary outcomes:
measure: Ability to discriminate durations
timeFrame: 25 months and 10 days
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Risks's prediction of temporal disorientation.
timeFrame: 26 months
measure: Identification of neural correlations with temporal perception tests
timeFrame: 27 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Créteil
country: France
facility: Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris - Hôpital Henri Mondor
Study officials:
affiliation: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
name: Anne-Catherine BACHOUD-LEVI, MD, PhD
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References: