Longitudinal MR spectroscopy of neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis with diffusion of the intra-axonal constituent N-acetylaspartate.

ABSTRACT: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a pathologically complex CNS disease: inflammation, demyelination, and neuroaxonal degeneration occur concurrently and may depend on one another. Current therapies are aimed at the immune-mediated, inflammatory destruction of myelin, whereas axonal degeneration is ongoing and not specifically targeted. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance spectroscopy can measure the diffusivity of metabolites in vivo, such as the axonal/neuronal constituent N-acetylaspartate, allowing compartment-specific assessment of disease-related changes. Previously, we found significantly lower N-acetylaspartate diffusivity in people with MS compared to healthy controls (Wood et al., 2012) suggesting that this technique can measure axonal degeneration and could be useful in

SUBMITTER: Wood ET 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5496488 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature