Ivan Kirov1,2, Shu Liu1,2, Assaf Tal3, William E. Wu1,2, Matthew S. Davitz1,2, James S. Babb1,2, Henry Rusinek1,2, Joseph Herbert4, and Oded Gonen1,2
1Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R), New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, 2Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, 3Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, 4Neurology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States
Using MR imaging and proton spectroscopy, we follow the
evolution of transient and persistent multiple sclerosis lesions from
pre-lesional state to long-term (over 2 years post-formation) status. The main
finding was that the sharp drop in N-acetyl-aspartate
associated with the formation of an acute lesion was reversible in resolving,
but not in persisting black holes, substantiating the idea that transient new
lesions revert to pre-lesional axonal state. The additional findings were a
decrease in creatine after the appearance of a persisting lesion and the lack
of metabolic differences between pre-lesional tissue giving rise to resolving
versus persisting lesions.
