Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital, Finland.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2012;48(9):437-41.
Brain size, white matter hyperintensity, and the development of brain atrophy are known to be highly heritable. The decrease of brain volume starts from the very onset of multiple sclerosis and is 10-fold compared with normal aging. The aim of this study was to assess whether the brain and spinal cord volumes and the volume of white matter lesions differed between twins with multiple sclerosis and their asymptomatic co-twins.
A co-twin control method was used to evaluate whether the brain and spinal cord volumes differ between twins with multiple sclerosis and their co-twins. Nineteen twin pairs were studied neurologically, and the volumes of T1, T2, FLAIR, and gadolinium-enhanced lesions and those of the brain and the spinal cord were obtained by magnetic resonance imaging.
Significant differences in the brain (P=0.064) or spinal cord (P=0.648) volumes were not detected. Four of the 7 monozygotic and 5 of the 12 dizygotic co-twins had focal brain white matter lesions, but none fulfilled the magnetic resonance imaging criteria of Barkhof. Spinal cord lesions were not seen in any of the co-twins.
The absence of a significant difference in the brain or spinal cord volume between the twins with multiple sclerosis and their co-twins supports the recent observation of brain size and the development of brain atrophy being highly heritable.
脑容量、脑白质高信号和脑萎缩的发展具有高度遗传性。脑体积的减少从多发性硬化症的早期就开始出现，与正常衰老相比减少了 10 倍。本研究旨在评估多发性硬化症双胞胎及其无症状的同卵双胞胎之间的脑和脊髓体积以及脑白质病变体积是否存在差异。
采用同卵双胞胎对照法评估多发性硬化症双胞胎及其同卵双胞胎之间的脑和脊髓体积是否存在差异。对 19 对双胞胎进行了神经系统检查，并通过磁共振成像获得了 T1、T2、FLAIR 和钆增强病变以及脑和脊髓的体积。
未发现脑（P=0.064）或脊髓（P=0.648）体积存在显著差异。7 对同卵双胞胎中有 4 对和 12 对异卵双胞胎中有 5 对存在局灶性脑白质病变，但均不符合 Barkhof 的磁共振成像标准。在任何一对同卵双胞胎中均未发现脊髓病变。
多发性硬化症双胞胎及其同卵双胞胎之间的脑或脊髓体积无显著差异，支持大脑大小和脑萎缩发展具有高度遗传性的最新观察结果。
