Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 9, 2025
Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Multiple Sclerosis at 7.0 Tesla
Published on: February 19, 2021
Detecting macromolecular differences of the CSF in low disability multiple sclerosis using quantitative MT MRI at 3T
Richard D Lawless1,2, Colin D McKnight3, Kristin P O'Grady4
1Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Background:
Imaging investigation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in multiple sclerosis (MS) is understudied. Development of noninvasive methods to detect pathological CSF changes would have a profound effect on MS diagnosis and would offer insight into MS pathophysiology and mechanisms of neurological impairment.
Objective:
We propose magnetization transfer (MT) MRI as a tool to detect macromolecular changes in spinal CSF.
Methods:
MT and quantitative MT (qMT) data were acquired in the cervical region in 27 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (pwRRMS) and 38 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). MT ratio (MTR), the B1, B0, and R1 corrected qMT-derived pool size ratio (PSR) were quantified in the spinal cord and CSF of each group.
Results:
Both CSF MTR and CSF qMT-derived PSR were significantly increased in pwRRMS compared to HC (p = 0.027 and p = 0.020, respectively). CSF PSR of pwRRMS was correlated to Expanded Disability Status Scale Scores (p = 0.045, R = 0.352).
Conclusion:
Our findings demonstrate increased CSF macromolecular content in pwRRMS and link CSF macromolecular content with clinical impairment. This highlights the potential role of CSF in processing products of demyelination.
