Reduced spinal cord parenchymal cerebrospinal fluid circulation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

An alteration of parenchymal cerebrospinal fluid circulation (CSF) has been proposed to take part in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis. By using an intragate T1-weighted high-resolution MRI of the spinal cord of freely breathing mice injected with a gadolinium chelate in the cisterna magna, we show that a parenchymal CSF circulation exists in the spinal cord, in addition to that originally described in the brain. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model of multiple sclerosis, we show a reduction of parenchymal CSF circulation specifically in the spinal cord but not in the brain.