1. Axonal damage in spinal cord is associated with gray matter atrophy in sensorimotor cortex in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
- Author
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Meyer, Cassandra E, Gao, Josephine L, Cheng, James Ying-Jie, Oberoi, Mandavi R, Johnsonbaugh, Hadley, Lepore, Stefano, Kurth, Florian, Thurston, Mackenzie J, Itoh, Noriko, Patel, Kevin R, Voskuhl, Rhonda R, and MacKenzie-Graham, Allan
- Subjects
Biomedical and Clinical Sciences ,Clinical Sciences ,Brain Disorders ,Neurosciences ,Multiple Sclerosis ,Neurodegenerative ,Autoimmune Disease ,2.1 Biological and endogenous factors ,Aetiology ,Neurological ,Animals ,Atrophy ,Encephalomyelitis ,Autoimmune ,Experimental ,Female ,Gray Matter ,Hydrogels ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Mice ,Mice ,Inbred C57BL ,Sensorimotor Cortex ,Spinal Cord ,Voxel-based morphometry ,CLARITY ,EAE ,MS ,neurodegeneration ,axonal loss ,Neurology & Neurosurgery ,Clinical sciences ,Biological psychology - Abstract
BackgroundGray matter (GM) atrophy in brain is one of the best predictors of long-term disability in multiple sclerosis (MS), and recent findings have revealed that localized GM atrophy is associated with clinical disabilities. GM atrophy associated with each disability mapped to a distinct brain region, revealing a disability-specific atlas (DSA) of GM loss.ObjectiveTo uncover the mechanisms underlying the development of localized GM atrophy.MethodsWe used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to evaluate localized GM atrophy and Clear Lipid-exchanged Acrylamide-hybridized Rigid Imaging-compatible Tissue-hYdrogel (CLARITY) to evaluate specific pathologies in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).ResultsWe observed extensive GM atrophy throughout the cerebral cortex, with additional foci in the thalamus and caudoputamen, in mice with EAE compared to normal controls. Next, we generated pathology-specific atlases (PSAs), voxelwise mappings of the correlation between specific pathologies and localized GM atrophy. Interestingly, axonal damage (end-bulbs and ovoids) in the spinal cord strongly correlated with GM atrophy in the sensorimotor cortex of the brain.ConclusionThe combination of VBM with CLARITY in EAE can localize GM atrophy in brain that is associated with a specific pathology in spinal cord, revealing a PSA of GM loss.
- Published
- 2020