summary: The authors aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of neuro-axonal degeneration, which is thought to play an important part in determining the increase in irreversible disability in people with MS, by means of a new MRI technique which specifically assesses the amounts of sodium in the brain tissue. They found abnormally high values of tissue sodium concentration in people with MS compared to healthy controls, and also that such tissue sodium concentration correlated with clinical disability, in keeping with other studies which suggest that the accumulation of sodium in axons is an important cause of axonal damage in MS.

authors: Inglese M, Madelin G, Oesingmann N, Babb JS, Wu W, Stoeckel B, Herbert J, Johnson G

source: Brain. 2010 Jan 27

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