Affiliations: Department of Neurology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas, USA
Note: [] Correspondence to: D.H. Jacobs, Department of Neurology, Box J-236, Shands Hospital, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA
Note: [] The contribution of S.J. Huber is posthumous.
Abstract: Neuropsychologic data suggest an important role for the caudate nucleus (CN) in behavioral impairments in Huntington's disease (HD). These include abnormalities in executive function, egocentric visuospatial representations, communication, and retrieval of declarative memories, changes in personality, and psychiatric disturbances. Animal paradigms of CN lesions support a role for the CN in some of these behaviors. Current theories of basal ganglia function add explanatory value to the role of the CN in these behaviors. A disconnection of the caudate from limbic structures, including the amygdala may account for many nonmotor behaviors observed in HD.
