summary: MS is a chronic inflammatory-demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, where some degree of irreversible disability can appear with time. Axonal degeneration, rather than demyelination, is believed to be the pathological substrate underlying such irreversible disability. However, so far there is little evidence to support this hypothesis. Through the post-mortem analysis of the cervical spinal cord of a group of people with MS, the authors of this study found a significant correlation between axonal loss in the major descending motor pathway and the degree of motor disability reached before death, supporting the hypothesis that neuro-axonal loss is the pathological substrate for progressive disability in MS.

authors: Tallantyre EC, Bø L, Al-Rawashdeh O, Owens T, Polman CH, Lowe JS, Evangelou N

source: Mult Scler. 2010 Mar 9

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category: Pathology

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