Cognitive interventions to enhance neural compensation in Huntington's disease

Abstract

In Huntington's disease (HD), there is growing evidence of neural compensation during neurodegeneration, and that these processes might be modifiable by environmental factors. Cognitive intervention to improve brain function has been trialled only to a very limited extent in HD; however, it has shown promise in other neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we discuss the evidence for the use of cognitive intervention to boost neural compensation in HD, and find it has potential to delay clinical decline, particularly if applied early in the disease process. Randomized controlled trials of cognitive intervention in HD should be implemented as a next step to gauging the efficacy of this approach to improve outcomes for those with the HD gene.

Keywords: Huntington's disease; brain training; cognitive intervention; cognitive reserve; cognitive training; neural compensation; neuroplasticity.