Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada/Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada/International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Mult Scler. 2016 Oct;22(11):1485-1489. doi: 10.1177/1352458515624559. Epub 2016 Jan 27.
Loss of myelin in the spinal cord in multiple sclerosis (MS) is likely an important, and early, contributor to atrophy and associated disability. In vivo measurement of myelin is possible using myelin water fraction (MWF) imaging, but MWF has never been assessed in MS along the entire length of the spinal cord in vivo or in post-mortem tissue.
To assess the feasibility of measuring the distribution of MWF along the entire length of the spinal cord in post-mortem MS tissue using high-field MRI.
One formalin-fixed spinal cord from a female with secondary progressive MS (age: 78 years, disease duration: 25 years) was cut into 104 5-mm-thick cross sections along the entire length of the spinal cord from the cervico-medullary junction to the conus medullaris and imaged using a 64 echo T2 relaxation experiment at 7T.
Myelin water maps showed cord anatomy in superb detail, white matter demonstrating a higher MWF than the grey matter. Anatomical variation in myelin distribution along cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions was observed. Lesions demonstrated myelin loss.
Post-mortem myelin water imaging of formalin-fixed MS spinal cord is feasible.
多发性硬化症（MS）脊髓中的髓鞘丢失可能是导致萎缩和相关残疾的一个重要且早期的因素。使用髓鞘水分数（MWF）成像可以在体内测量髓鞘，但 MWF 从未在 MS 患者的整个脊髓长度上进行过体内或死后组织评估。
评估使用高场 MRI 测量死后 MS 组织中 MWF 沿整个脊髓分布的可行性。
从一名患有继发性进行性 MS 的女性（年龄：78 岁，病程：25 年）的福尔马林固定脊髓中取出 104 个 5 毫米厚的脊髓切片，沿颈髓交界处至脊髓圆锥的整个脊髓长度切成 104 个 5 毫米厚的切片，并使用 7T 上的 64 回波 T2 弛豫实验进行成像。
髓鞘水图以极好的细节显示了脊髓解剖结构，白质的 MWF 高于灰质。观察到颈、胸和腰区髓鞘分布的解剖学变化。病变显示髓鞘丢失。
福尔马林固定 MS 脊髓的死后髓鞘水成像是可行的。
