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Brainstem 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy: Marker of demyelination and repair in spinal cord
Author(s) -
Denic Aleksandar,
Bieber Allan,
Warrington Arthur,
Mishra Prasanna K.,
Macura Slobodan,
Rodriguez Moses
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.21758
Subject(s) - brainstem , spinal cord , remyelination , spinal cord injury , magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , axon , pathology , neuroscience , biology , central nervous system , anatomy , myelin , radiology
Measuring in vivo spinal cord injury and repair remains elusive. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) we examined brainstem N‐acetyl‐aspartate (NAA) as a surrogate for spinal cord injury in two mouse strains with different reparative phenotypes following virus‐induced demyelination. Swiss Jim Lambert (SJL) and Friend Virus B (FVB) mice progressively demyelinate with axonal loss. FVB mice demyelinate similarly but eventually remyelinate coincident with functional recovery. Brainstem NAA levels drop in both but recover in FVB mice. Chronically infected SJL mice lost 30.5% of spinal cord axons compared to FVB mice (7.3%). In remyelination‐enhancing or axon‐preserving clinical trials, brainstem MRS may be a viable endpoint to represent overall spinal cord dysfunction. Ann Neurol 2009;66:559–564