Differentiation between dysmyelination and demyelination using magnetic resonance diffusional anisotropy

• Published in: Brain research Vol. 671; no. 1; pp. 141 - 148
• Main Authors: Ono, Jiro, Harada, Koushi, Takahashi, Masaya, Maeda, Mitsuyo, Ikenaka, Kazuhiro, Sakurai, Kosuke, Sakai, Norio, Kagawa, Tetsushi, Fritz-Zieroth, Bernhard, Nagai, Toshisaburo, Nihei, Akio, Hashimoto, Shigeo, Okada, Shintaro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Elsevier B.V 06.02.1995; Amsterdam Elsevier; New York, NY
• Subjects: Animals; Anisotropy; Biological and medical sciences; Demyelinating Diseases - diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; Diffusion; Disease Models, Animal; Histology; Jimpy; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Jimpy; Multiple sclerosis and variants. Guillain barré syndrome and other inflammatory polyneuropathies. Leukoencephalitis; Myelination; Neurology; Optic Nerve - pathology; Trigeminal Nerve - pathology; Twitcher; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Myelination; Jimpy; Anisotropy; Twitcher; Histology; Diffusion; Animal model; Nervous system diseases; Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease; Optic nerve; Neuroglia; Rodentia; NMR spectrometry; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Cranial nerve disease; Trigeminal nerve; Mouse; Demyelination; Ultrastructure; Animal; Krabbe disease; Central nervous system disease; Myelin sheath; Myelinization
• ISSN: 0006-8993; 1872-6240
• DOI: 10.1016/0006-8993(94)01335-F

Using magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion-weighted method, we examined the optic and the trigeminal nerves of jimpy and twitcher mice, considered to be animal models of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, hypomyelination disorder, and Krabbe disease, demyelination disorder, respectively. In jimpy mice, diffusional anisotropy of optic nerve did not show a significant difference compared to age-matched control mice, suggesting that diffusional anisotropy does exist in absence of multiple layers of myelin sheath. In twitcher mice, diffusional anisotropy was attenuated remarkably in the optic and trigeminal nerves. Loss of axonal straightness on longitudinal section confirmed by electron microscopy appeared to be the principal explanation for it. It is further suggested that this MR diffusion-weighted imaging method enables us to differentiate hypomyelination from demyelination in vivo.