Cerebrospinal Fluid-In Gradient of Cortical and Deep Gray Matter Damage in Multiple Sclerosis

A CSF-in gradient in cortical and thalamic gray matter (GM) damage has been found in multiple sclerosis (MS). We concomitantly explored the patterns of cortical, thalamic, and caudate microstructural abnormalities at progressive distances from CSF using a multiparametric MRI approach.

For this cross-sectional study, from 3T 3D T1-weighted scans, we sampled cortical layers at 25%-50%-75% depths from pial surface and thalamic and caudate bands at 2-3-4 voxels from the ventricular-GM interface. Using linear mixed models, we tested between-group comparisons of magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and R2* layer-specific z-scores, CSF-in across-layer z-score changes, and their correlations with clinical (disease duration and disability) and structural (focal lesions, brain, and choroid plexus volume) MRI measures.

We enrolled 52 patients with MS (33 relapsing-remitting [RRMS], 19 progressive [PMS], mean age: 46.4 years, median disease duration: 15.1 years, median: EDSS 2.0) and 70 controls (mean age 41.5 ± 12.8). Compared with controls, RRMS showed lower MTR values in the outer and middle cortical layers (false-discovery rate [FDR]-p ≤ 0.025) and lower R2* values in all 3 cortical layers (FDR-p ≤ 0.016). PMS had lower MTR values in the outer and middle cortical (FDR-p ≤ 0.016) and thalamic (FDR-p ≤ 0.048) layers, and in the outer caudate layer (FDR-p = 0.024). They showed lower R2* values in the outer cortical layer (FDR-p = 0.003) and in the outer thalamic layer (FDR-p = 0.046) and higher R2* values in all 3 caudate layers (FDR-p ≤ 0.031). Both RRMS and PMS had a gradient of damage, with lower values closer to the CSF, for cortical (FDR-p ≤ 0.002) and thalamic (FDR-p ≤ 0.042) MTR. PMS showed a gradient of damage for cortical R2* (FDR-p = 0.005), thalamic R2* (FDR-p = 0.004), and caudate MTR (FDR-p ≤ 0.013). Lower MTR and R2* of outer cortical, thalamic, and caudate layers and steeper gradient of damage toward the CSF were significantly associated with older age, higher T2-hyperintense white matter lesion volume, higher thalamic lesion volume, and lower brain volume (β ≥ 0.08, all FDR-p ≤ 0.040). Lower MTR of outer caudate layer was associated with more severe disability (β = -0.26, FDR-p = 0.040). No correlations with choroid plexus volume were found.

CSF-in damage gradients are heterogeneous among different GM regions and through MS course, possibly reflecting different dynamics of demyelination and iron loss/accumulation.