The longstanding MS lesion. A quantitative MRI and electron microscopic study
Abstract
Important questions remain unanswered about the sequence of events leading to progressive and ultimately irreversible tissue damage in MS. This study was designed to investigate the pathological characteristics of, and function of, the blood-brain barrier within longstanding MS lesions using quantitative and Gd-DTPA enhanced MRI techniques. The ultrastructural appearances of postmortem lesions from a single, separate case of MS have been correlated with the MRI findings. Both MRI and ultrastructural analysis revealed considerable heterogeneity in the chronic lesions: some are 'closed' with no detectable extracellular water, but most are 'open' and show expansion of the extracellular space to as much as 87% of tissue area. This variable expansion probably results from differing degrees of axonal loss. Evidence of blood-brain barrier damage was found in only 17% of lesions, was less severe than that seen in acute lesions, and may result from repeated previous inflammatory insults. The findings imply progressive axonal loss in lesions as they age. It is possible that this loss is related to clinical progression of the disease.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In chronic post mortem MS brain, MD and FA appear to be mainly affected by loss of structure due to demyelination and, to a lesser degree, axonal loss, resulting in larger intercellular spaces.
“Hence, our data suggest that in chronic post mortem MS brain MD and FA appear to be mainly affected by a loss of structure due to demyelination and – to a lesser degree axonal loss – resulting in larger intercellular spaces”
From Diffusion tensor imaging of post mortem multiple sclerosis brain (2007) · cites this paper as Barnes et al., 1991
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Diffusion tensor imaging of lesions and normal-appearing white matter in multiple sclerosis
Werring, D. J., Clark, C. A., Barker, G. J., Thompson, A. J., & Miller, D. H. (1999) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.52.8.1626 · Cited by 621 · see citing works
Miller, D. H., Albert, P. S., Barkhof, F., Francis, G., Frank, J. A., Hodgkinson, S., Lublin, F. D., Paty, D. W., Reingold, S. C., & Simon, J. (1996) · Annals of Neurology · doi:10.1002/ana.410390104 · Cited by 444 · see citing works
Diffusion tensor imaging of post mortem multiple sclerosis brain
Schmierer, K., Wheeler-Kingshott, C. A. M., Boulby, P. A., Scaravilli, F., Altmann, D. R., Barker, G. J., Tofts, P. S., & Miller, D. H. (2007) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.12.010 · Cited by 395 · see citing works
- Authors
- BARNES, D., MUNRO, P. M. G., YOUL, B. D., PRINEAS, J. W., & MCDONALD, W. I.
- Affiliations
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (GB)
- Corresponding author
- MCDONALD, W. I.
- ORCID
- PRINEAS, J. W.
- Venue
- Brain
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1991-06-01
- Volume
- 114
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1271-1280
- ISSN
- 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2156
- OpenAlex
- W1994743387
- Cited by
- 256
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 8.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Multiple Sclerosis Society
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- multiple sclerosis, blood-brain barrier disruption, axonal loss, lesion heterogeneity, Gd-DTPA-enhanced MRI, disease progression
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain, Pentetic Acid, Female, Gadolinium, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Microscopy, Electron, Multiple Sclerosis, Organometallic Compounds, Gadolinium DTPA
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
