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MRI Characterization of Paranodal Junction Failure and Related Spinal Cord Changes in Mice
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 12, p e52904 (2012)
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2012.
-
Abstract
- The paranodal junction is a specialized axon-glia contact zone that is important for normal neuronal activity and behavioral locomotor function in the central nervous system (CNS). Histological examination has been the only method for detecting pathological paranodal junction conditions. Recently, diffusion tensor MRI (DTI) has been used to detect microstructural changes in various CNS diseases. This study was conducted to determine whether MRI and DTI could detect structural changes in the paranodal junctions of the spinal cord in cerebroside sulfotransferase knock-out (CST-KO) mice. Here, we showed that high-resolution MRI and DTI characteristics can reflect paranodal junction failure in CST-KO mice. We found significantly lower T1 times and significantly higher T2 times in the spinal cord MRIs of CST-KO mice as compared to wild-type (WT) mice. Spinal cord DTI showed significantly lower axial diffusivity and significantly higher radial diffusivity in CST-KO mice as compared to WT mice. In contrast, the histological differences in the paranodal junctions of WT and CST-KO mice were so subtle that electron microscopy or immunohistological analyses were necessary to detect them. We also measured gait disturbance in the CST-KO mice, and determined the conduction latency by electrophysiology. These findings demonstrate the potential of using MRI and DTI to evaluate white matter disorders that involve paranodal junction failure.
- Subjects :
- Pathology
Anatomy and Physiology
Mouse
lcsh:Medicine
Nerve Fibers, Myelinated
Diagnostic Radiology
Mice
Paranodal junction
Neurobiology of Disease and Regeneration
lcsh:Science
Mice, Knockout
Neurons
Multidisciplinary
medicine.diagnostic_test
Anatomy
Animal Models
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
medicine.anatomical_structure
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Neurology
Spinal Cord
Neuroglia
Medicine
Sulfotransferases
Radiology
Research Article
medicine.medical_specialty
Central nervous system
Neuroimaging
Biology
Neurological System
White matter
Model Organisms
medicine
Animals
lcsh:R
Magnetic resonance imaging
Spinal cord
Demyelinating Disorders
Axons
Electrophysiology
Neuroanatomy
nervous system
Cellular Neuroscience
lcsh:Q
Nuclear Medicine
human activities
Diffusion MRI
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 7
- Issue :
- 12
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....05b333214fdb5b77b7fe2797e10592f8