People with multiple sclerosis lose myelin in grey matter
Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:59 am
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) lose myelin in the grey matter of their brains and the loss is closely correlated with the severity of the disease, according to a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study. Researchers said the findings could have important applications in clinical trials and treatment monitoring. The study appears online in the journal Radiology.
Loss of myelin, the fatty protective sheath around nerve fibres, is a characteristic of MS, an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that can lead to a variety of serious neurological symptoms and disability. MS is typically considered a disease of the brain's signal-conducting white matter, where myelin is most abundant, but myelin is also present in smaller amounts in grey matter, the brain's information processing center that is made up primarily of nerve cell bodies. Though the myelin content in grey matter is small, it is still extremely important to proper function, as it enables protection of thin nerve fibers connecting neighboring areas of the brain cortex, according to Vasily L. Yarnykh, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Radiology at University of Washington in Seattle....... Read more - http://www.ms-uk.org/myelin
Loss of myelin, the fatty protective sheath around nerve fibres, is a characteristic of MS, an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that can lead to a variety of serious neurological symptoms and disability. MS is typically considered a disease of the brain's signal-conducting white matter, where myelin is most abundant, but myelin is also present in smaller amounts in grey matter, the brain's information processing center that is made up primarily of nerve cell bodies. Though the myelin content in grey matter is small, it is still extremely important to proper function, as it enables protection of thin nerve fibers connecting neighboring areas of the brain cortex, according to Vasily L. Yarnykh, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Radiology at University of Washington in Seattle....... Read more - http://www.ms-uk.org/myelin
