Abstract #1063

Progressive Neuroanatomical Changes in the YAC128 Mouse Model of Huntingtons Disease

Jason Philipp Lerch¹, Jeffrey B. Carroll², Matthijs van Eede¹, Michael R. Hayden², R. Mark Henkelman¹

¹Mouse Imaging Centre, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ²Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

We investigated the YAC128 mouse model of Huntington's Disease at 8 and 12 months of age using high-resolution MRI and found progressive atrophy in the striatum. The sensorimotor cortex, on the other hand, was thicker in YAC128 mice at 8 months of age but thinner than wild-type controls at 12 months, suggesting a potential compensatory mechanism in early stages of the disease.