e-Time: Striatum and Hippocampus on Different Time Scales

Sponsor

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (Other)

Overall Status

Recruiting

CT.gov ID

NCT05943054

Collaborator

(none)

104

Enrollment

Location

Arms

38.7

Anticipated Duration (Months)

2.7

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

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.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Huntington Disease Alzheimer Disease	Other: Temporal perception tasks	N/A

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.

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Anticipated Enrollment :

104 participants

Allocation:

Non-Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Other

Official Title:

Role of the Striatum and Hippocampus on Different Time Scales

Actual Study Start Date :

Jan 6, 2023

Anticipated Primary Completion Date :

Mar 30, 2025

Anticipated Study Completion Date :

Mar 30, 2026

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Patients carrying the Huntington's gene A "long" temporal perception task and a "short" temporal perception task	Other: Temporal perception tasks A "long" temporal perception task in which the duration of the stimulus, around 2 min, is materialized by a video. For each trial, two videos are displayed to the participants, and then the task of the participant is to indicate the longest video and to give his level of confidence in his answer. A "short" temporal perception task which will take place in the same way as the "long" task except that the duration of the stimulus, around 2 seconds, is materialized by still frames from the videos used in the previous task.
Experimental: Alzheimer's disease patients A "long" temporal perception task and a "short" temporal perception task	Other: Temporal perception tasks A "long" temporal perception task in which the duration of the stimulus, around 2 min, is materialized by a video. For each trial, two videos are displayed to the participants, and then the task of the participant is to indicate the longest video and to give his level of confidence in his answer. A "short" temporal perception task which will take place in the same way as the "long" task except that the duration of the stimulus, around 2 seconds, is materialized by still frames from the videos used in the previous task.
Active Comparator: Healthy Volunteers A "long" temporal perception task and a "short" temporal perception task	Other: Temporal perception tasks A "long" temporal perception task in which the duration of the stimulus, around 2 min, is materialized by a video. For each trial, two videos are displayed to the participants, and then the task of the participant is to indicate the longest video and to give his level of confidence in his answer. A "short" temporal perception task which will take place in the same way as the "long" task except that the duration of the stimulus, around 2 seconds, is materialized by still frames from the videos used in the previous task.

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Experimental: Patients carrying the Huntington's gene

A "long" temporal perception task and a "short" temporal perception task

Other: Temporal perception tasks

A "long" temporal perception task in which the duration of the stimulus, around 2 min, is materialized by a video. For each trial, two videos are displayed to the participants, and then the task of the participant is to indicate the longest video and to give his level of confidence in his answer. A "short" temporal perception task which will take place in the same way as the "long" task except that the duration of the stimulus, around 2 seconds, is materialized by still frames from the videos used in the previous task.

Experimental: Alzheimer's disease patients

A "long" temporal perception task and a "short" temporal perception task

Other: Temporal perception tasks

Active Comparator: Healthy Volunteers

A "long" temporal perception task and a "short" temporal perception task

Other: Temporal perception tasks

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Ability to discriminate durations [25 months and 10 days]
Ability to discriminate durations of a few seconds and durations of the order of minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Risks's prediction of temporal disorientation. [26 months]
Analysis of the answers (true/false) to the questionnaire assessing temporal orientation in daily life
Identification of neural correlations with temporal perception tests [27 months]
Brain magnetic resonance imaging analysis

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years to 90 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Yes

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