PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation between water content (WC) and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) in normal and multiple sclerosis (MS) brain. The MTR has been proposed as a marker for myelin in central nervous system tissue. However, changes in WC due to inflammation and edema may also affect the MTR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven MS subjects with active disease and seven age- and gender-matched controls were scanned using quantitative magnetic resonance techniques. WC, myelin water content, T(1) relaxation time, and MTR were calculated from areas of lesion (divided into new lesions less than 2 months old, isointense T(1) lesions, and hypointense T(1) lesions), contralateral normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), and location-matched normal white matter (NWM) in controls. Linear regression was used to determine the correlation between WC and MTR. RESULTS: A significant correlation was found between WC and MTR across all tissue (R = -0.65, P < 0.0005). CONCLUSION: MTR was correlated with WC in MS tissue, indicating that inflammation and edema influence MTR. Therefore, caution should be used when associating MTR exclusively with myelin content.
PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation between water content (WC) and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) in normal and multiple sclerosis (MS) brain. The MTR has been proposed as a marker for myelin in central nervous system tissue. However, changes in WC due to inflammation and edema may also affect the MTR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven MS subjects with active disease and seven age- and gender-matched controls were scanned using quantitative magnetic resonance techniques. WC, myelin water content, T(1) relaxation time, and MTR were calculated from areas of lesion (divided into new lesions less than 2 months old, isointense T(1) lesions, and hypointense T(1) lesions), contralateral normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), and location-matched normal white matter (NWM) in controls. Linear regression was used to determine the correlation between WC and MTR. RESULTS: A significant correlation was found between WC and MTR across all tissue (R = -0.65, P < 0.0005). CONCLUSION: MTR was correlated with WC in MS tissue, indicating that inflammation and edema influence MTR. Therefore, caution should be used when associating MTR exclusively with myelin content.
Authors: Ileana O Jelescu; Magdalena Zurek; Kerryanne V Winters; Jelle Veraart; Anjali Rajaratnam; Nathanael S Kim; James S Babb; Timothy M Shepherd; Dmitry S Novikov; Sungheon G Kim; Els Fieremans Journal: Neuroimage Date: 2016-02-11 Impact factor: 6.556
Authors: Yong Wang; Peng Sun; Qing Wang; Kathryn Trinkaus; Robert E Schmidt; Robert T Naismith; Anne H Cross; Sheng-Kwei Song Journal: Brain Date: 2015-02-26 Impact factor: 13.501
Authors: Daniel S Reich; Richard White; Irene Cm Cortese; Luisa Vuolo; Colin D Shea; Tassie L Collins; John Petkau Journal: Mult Scler Date: 2015-02-06 Impact factor: 6.312