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Comprehensive Autopsy Program for Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis
Published on: July 19, 2019
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Multiple sclerosis reduces synchrony of the magnocellular pathway
Masoud Seraji1,2, Maryam Mohebbi3, Amirhossein Safari3
1Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.
Plos One
|August 26, 2021
Summary
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) impairs visual network synchrony, particularly in the magnocellular pathway. This study reveals reduced small-worldness in MS patients, suggesting a novel biomarker for visual deficits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease causing demyelination, impacting nerve fibers and potentially leading to visual pathway damage.
- Visually Evoked Potentials (VEPs) show delays in MS, but pathway-specific impairments remain unclear due to limitations in latency measures.
- Network synchrony offers a potentially more sensitive method to detect subtle pathway alterations in MS.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if network synchrony measures can reveal pathway-specific impairments in the visual system of MS patients.
- To test the hypothesis that functional connectivity, specifically small-world network properties, is altered in MS.
- To determine if these alterations are specific to the magnocellular, parvocellular, or koniocellular visual pathways.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of occipital electroencephalography (EEG) signals during visual stimulation targeting specific pathways.
- Quantification of functional connectivity using graph-theoretic measures: characteristic path length (L) and clustering coefficient (CC).
- Comparison of network synchrony measures between individuals with MS and healthy controls.
Main Results:
- Individuals with MS exhibited significantly reduced characteristic path length (L) and clustering coefficient (CC) compared to controls.
- These reductions in functional connectivity were specific to the magnocellular visual pathway.
- Effect sizes for L and CC in the magnocellular pathway were substantial (Hedge's g = 0.89 and 1.26, respectively), indicating a loss of small-world network properties.
Conclusions:
- The study demonstrates a reduction in the small-worldness of the magnocellular visual network in MS patients.
- Altered functional connectivity, specifically reduced network efficiency, may underlie visual deficits in MS.
- Network synchrony measures offer a promising, sensitive approach for assessing visual pathway impairment and potentially disease progression in MS.
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