Abstract #3223

Schmierer K, Miller D, Brander S, Parkes H, Denham M, Yousry T

MR spectroscopy (MRS) in vivo is being used to probe multiple sclerosis (MS). Pathological substrates of metabolite changes in MS brain are poorly understood. We applied high-field (500MHz for 1H) MRS and quantitative histology to post mortem MS brain. Normal appearing white matter (NAWM) and white matter lesions (WML) were sampled from nine fresh MS brain slices. Chloroform-methanol-water extractions were carried out and 1H NMR spectra acquired. Differences in metabolite concentrations were detected between NAWM and WML including a reduction of myo-Inositol in lesions. More cases will be studied to verify this finding.