Open AccessCognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis: lessons from cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers
Author(s) -
Lorenzo Gaetani,
Nicola Salvadori,
Elena Chipi,
Lucia Gentili,
Antonio Borrelli,
Lucilla Parnetti,
Massimiliano Di Filippo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
neural regeneration research/neural regeneration research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.93
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1876-7958
pISSN - 1673-5374
DOI - 10.4103/1673-5374.286949
Subject(s) - multiple sclerosis , cerebrospinal fluid , cognition , cognitive impairment , neuroscience , medicine , neuropsychology , white matter , psychology , pathology , magnetic resonance imaging , immunology , radiology
Cognitive impairment is a common clinical manifestation of multiple sclerosis, but its pathophysiology is not completely understood. White and grey matter injury together with synaptic dysfunction do play a role. The measurement of biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid and the study of their association with cognitive impairment may provide interesting in vivo evidence of the biological mechanisms underlying multiple sclerosis-related cognitive impairment. So far, only a few studies on this topic have been published, giving interesting results that deserve further investigation. Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of different pathophysiological mechanisms seem to reflect different neuropsychological patterns of cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis. The aim of this review is to discuss the studies that have correlated cerebrospinal fluid markers of immune, glial and neuronal pathology with cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis. Although preliminary, these findings suggest that cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers show some correlation with cognitive performance in multiple sclerosis, thus providing interesting insights into the mechanisms underlying the involvement of specific cognitive domains.