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Disturbed function and plasticity in multiple sclerosis as gleaned from functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Massimo Filippi1, Maria A Rocca
1Neuroimaging Research Unit, Department of Neurology, Scientific Institute and University Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. m.filippi@hsr.it
Current Opinion in Neurology
|July 15, 2003
Summary
Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients show brain reorganization to compensate for tissue damage. Functional MRI reveals how this adaptation can fail, leading to disability, and suggests therapeutic targets for MS.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Neuroscience
- Clinical Neurology
Background:
- Multiple sclerosis (MS) involves progressive central nervous system damage.
- Understanding the brain's adaptive capacity is crucial for managing MS.
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) offers insights into brain function in MS.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize recent fMRI studies in multiple sclerosis patients.
- To explore how fMRI changes our understanding of brain plasticity in MS.
- To link brain reorganization to clinical outcomes in MS.
Main Methods:
- Review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies.
- Analysis of brain cortical reorganization in multiple sclerosis.
- Correlation of imaging findings with disease progression and disability.
Main Results:
- Cortical reorganization is evident in MS, regardless of disease duration or phenotype.
- Increased recruitment of brain networks aids functional compensation in early MS.
- Failure of compensatory mechanisms due to tissue damage contributes to irreversible disability.
Conclusions:
- fMRI provides critical data on cortical reorganization in MS.
- Understanding adaptive plasticity can illuminate factors driving MS disability.
- Enhancing beneficial cortical plasticity is a potential therapeutic strategy for MS.