Autonomic changes in Huntington’s disease correlate with altered central autonomic network connectivity

Autonomic dysfunction has been described in patients with Huntington’s disease, but it is unclear if these changes in autonomic tone are related to the central autonomic network. We performed a pilot study to investigate the relationship between the integrity of the central autonomic network and peripheral manifestiations of autonomic dysfunction in premanifest Huntington’s disease. We recruited male participants with pre-motor-manifest Huntington’s disease and a comparison group consisting of healthy, male participants of approximately the same age. As this was a pilot study, only males were included to reduce confounding. Participants underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study to quantify functional connectivity within the central autonomic network, as well as a resting 3-lead ECG to measure heart rate variability with a particular focus on the parasympathetic time-domain measures of root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats. The pre-motor-manifest Huntington’s disease participants had significantly decreased root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats values compared with the healthy comparison group. The pre-motor-manifest Huntington’s disease group had significantly lower functional connectivity within the central autonomic network, which was positively correlated with root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats. Patients with pre-motor-manifest Huntington’s disease have reduced functional connectivity within the central autonomic network, which is significantly associated with observed changes in autonomic function.