Assessment of ferritin content in multiple sclerosis brains using temperature-induced R*(2) changes

作者：Birkl Christoph^*; Carassiti Daniele; Hussain Fariha; Langkammer Christian; Enzinger Christian; Fazekas Franz; Schmierer Klaus; Ropele Stefan

来源：Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2018, 79(3): 1609-1615.

DOI：10.1002/mrm.26780

• magnetic susceptibility
• iron
• ferritin
• multiple sclerosis
• iron mapping MRI
• post mortem brain
• U-fibers

PurposeCurrent MRI techniques cannot reliably assess iron content in white matter due to the confounding diamagnetic effect of myelin. The purpose of this study was to validate with histology a novel iron mapping technique that uses the temperature dependency of the paramagnetic susceptibility in multiple sclerosis (MS) brains, where white matter has been reported to show significant variations in iron content.
MethodsWe investigated post mortem brain tissue from three MS patients and one control subject. Temperature-dependent R2* relaxometry was performed between 4 degrees C and 37 degrees C. The resulting temperature coefficient ( TcR2*) maps were compared with immunohistochemical stains for ferritin light chain.
ResultsGood agreement between TcR2* maps and ferritin staining was found by way of visual comparison and quantitative analysis. The highest iron concentrations were detected at the edge of MS lesions and in the basal ganglia. For all regions, except the subcortical U-fibers, there was a significant negative correlation between the TcR2*values and the ferritin count.
ConclusionThis study provides further evidence that TcR2*may be a reliable measure of white matter iron content due to the elimination of myelin-induced susceptibility changes and is well suited for further research into neurological diseases with distortions of the iron homeostasis. Magn Reson Med 79:1609-1615, 2018.

• 出版日期2018-3