MS is primarily a disease of inflammation, not neurodegeneration, study shows

**_Traditional understanding has MS start in the white matter of the brain, in other words in the inside layers. A new by Dr. Lucchinetti, posted on the MayoClinic blog purport the opposite:_** The outer layers of the brain would be affected first, then the inner layers. Research was conducted by Richard Ransohoff and Claudia Lucchinetti

_**Inward or outward progression, matters to target drugs in the early stages of the disease. Also important is the confirmation of MS as an inflammatory process
**_

This what Dr Luchinetti says:

"…The primary question was quickly answered: cortical demyelinating lesions of early-MS patients resembled those found at autopsy in every way but one -- the ea_**rly lesions were highly inflammatory**_. These findings were reassuring because they indicated that treatments targeting inflammation in the disease may ameliorate MS effects on both the **cortex** as well as the **white matter..**."

Here is a clear sketch according to  Korbinian Broadmann, an early German neurologist

[![][1]][2]

The Brain's Cortex and White Matter (Harvard)

The Cortex has sensory and motor areas, as the white matter is more involve in transmission of signal [2]

So inflammation would be the source of much of Multiple Sclerosis. As opposed to neurodegeneration like Alzheimer's [1].

_**Sources:**_

[1][ MarketWatch: MayoClinic; Press Release][3] ; "From the Outside In: Mayo Clinic Collaboration Finds Multiple Sclerosis Often Starts in Brain's Outer Layers"

[2] [Wikipedia][4]

[1]: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Brain_Cortex_Harvard-e1323835780229.png (Brain_Cortex_Harvard)
[2]: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Brain_Cortex_Harvard.png
[3]: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/from-the-outside-in-mayo-clinic-collaboration-finds-multiple-sclerosis-often-starts-in-brains-outer-layers-2011-12-07
[4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_matter

URL: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/?p=3249