Despite the importance of myelin for the rapid conduction of action potentials, the molecular bases of oligodendrocyte differentiation and central nervous system (CNS) myelination are still incompletely understood. Recent results have greatly advanced this understanding, identifying new transcriptional regulators of myelin gene expression, elucidating vital roles for microRNAs in controlling my...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO) are inflammatory demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). Various genetic and environmental factors have been identified to contribute to etiology of MS and NMO. Aquaporin 4 (AQP4), is the most abundant water channel in CNS. AQP4 is expressed in astrocytes of the brain, spinal cord, optic nerve and supportive cells in se...

Over several decades, studies sought potential markers to diagnose and to predict the clinical course of central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating disorders, especially in multiple sclerosis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders. Reliable biomarkers would ensure correct diagnoses, determine future disease evolvements, stratify patients for appropriat...

The elimination of inflammatory cells within the central nervous system (CNS) by apoptosis plays an important role in protecting the CNS from immune-mediated damage. T cells, B cells, macrophages, and microglia all undergo apoptosis in the CNS. The apoptotic elimination of CNS-reactive T cells is particularly important, as these cells can recruit and activate other inflammatory cells. T-cell ap...

Major advances have been made in the clinical and radiologic characterization of children presenting with the different forms of an acquired inflammatory demyelinating syndrome (ADS) such as acute disseminating encephalomyelitis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders, and clinically isolated syndromes. Nevertheless, a proportion of cases that present with similar symptoms are due to a broad s...

In neuroinflammatory disorders such as multiple sclerosis, the physiological function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is perturbed, particularly in demyelinating lesions and supposedly secondary to acute demyelinating pathology. Using the toxic non-inflammatory cuprizone model of demyelination, we demonstrate, however, that the onset of persistent BBB impairment precedes demyelination. In addi...

Among the neurologic complications of malaria, acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy is a rarely reported phenomenon. We describe a patient with acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy following malaria in a 26-year-old traveler to an endemic area and review the clinical features of all 23 previously reported patients. Malarial infection should be considered as...

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoid proliferations are a well-recognized complication of congenital or acquired systemic immunosuppression. The CNS is a frequent site for development of such lymphoid proliferations. We describe the clinical, imaging, and pathologic observations of a CNS disorder histologically similar to posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorder that occurred in...

neuromyelitis optica is an inflammatory demyelinating disease (idd) of the cns, which mainly affects optic nerve and spinal cord. autoantibodies against aquaporin-4 also known as nmo-igg have been implicated in the pathogenesis of nmo. we evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of nmo-igg assay for diagnosing nmo patients and differentiating them from ms patients and those with undifferentiat...

abstract background: a tumefactive lesion of central nervous system (cns) is defined as a mass-like lesion with a size greater than 2 cm in brain (magnetic resonance imaging) mri. neuroimaging may help to distinguish the nature of a tumefactive lesion and therefore can prevent an unnecessary brain biopsy. method: in this paper, we have emphasized on determining the nature of a cns tumefactive l...