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Synaptic Loss in Multiple Sclerosis Spinal Cord
Author(s) -
Petrova Natalia,
Nutma Erik,
Carassiti Daniele,
RS Newman James,
Amor Sandra,
Altmann Daniel R.,
Baker David,
Schmierer Klaus
Publication year - 2020
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.25835
Subject(s) - multiple sclerosis , spinal cord , synaptophysin , medicine , synapsin i , neuroscience , psychology , pathology , immunohistochemistry , biology , psychiatry , synaptic vesicle , vesicle , membrane , genetics
Disability in multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered primarily a result of axonal loss. However, correlation with spinal cord cross‐sectional area—a predictor of disability—is poor, questioning the unique role of axonal loss. We investigated the degree of synaptic loss in postmortem spinal cords (18 chronic MS, 8 healthy controls) using immunohistochemistry for synaptophysin and synapsin. Substantial (58–96%) loss of synapses throughout the spinal cord was detected, along with moderate (47%) loss of anterior horn neurons, notably in demyelinating MS lesions. We conclude that synaptic loss is significant in chronic MS, likely contributing to disability accrual. ANN NEUROL 2020;88:619–625