In her most catchily titled book, The Angel and the Assassin , Donna Jackson Nakazawa highlighed nerve cells which have hitherto been very little acknowledged – microglia . Long ignored as bit players in the big league of the nervous system, Nakazawa colourfully illustrated what many neuroscientists are beginning to realise: the small size of microglia belies their huge influence ; m icroglia are, after all, the defence force of the nervous system, protecting the brain from microbial invaders . In keeping with their small size, their role is to surreptitiously present the antigens of invading bugs to T cells , the toffs who actually carry out the final hatchet job . It is therefore not surprising that any dysfunction of microglia will come with significant clinical consequences . By GerryShaw – Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link The most important clinical fallout of dysfunctional microglia appears to be the emergence of dementia. It is indeed spec...
According to study group
ReplyDeleteConclusions
Our study provides additional information about DGM involvement in patients with MS, showing the presence of alterations of different MR imaging metrics as a possible reflection of neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory processes in these structures. Furthermore, our results demonstrate the presence of a different behavior of DGM atrophy in MS phenotypes, with subcortical GM volume loss mainly determined by global WM lesion burden in patients with RRMS, while local microstructural damage, along with susceptibility changes, account for the development of the significant DGM atrophy occurring in patients with PMS.