White matter injury

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is a cause of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants and is strongly associated with adverse neurological outcomes. The incidence of severe IVH (grade 3 or 4) has persisted despite the overall decline in IVH. IVH has been attributed to changes in cerebral blood flow to the immature germinal matrix microvasculature. The cascade of adverse events following IVH includes inflammation, white matter injury, and delayed oligodendrial maturation. In this study, we aimed to identify long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in the peripheral blood of preterm infants with IVH compared to normal controls, resulting in the finding of novel biomarkers for IVH...

Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), single-cell ATAC sequencing (scATAC-seq), and single-cell spatial transcriptomics to characterize murine cortical OPCs throughout postnatal life. During development, we identified two groups of differentially localized PDGFRα+ OPCs that are transcriptionally and epigenetically distinct. One group (active, or actOPCs) is metabolically active and enriched in white matter. The second (homeostatic, or hOPCs) is less active, enriched in gray matter, and predicted to derive from actOPCs...

The impact of the opioid epidemic on pregnant people and children is a growing public health crisis. Understanding how opioids affect the developing brain during pregnancy and postnatally remains a critical area of investigation. Biological sex plays a crucial role in all physiologic processes, with the potential for a significant impact on neonatal outcomes, including those infants with opioid exposure. Here, we aim to explore current literature on the effect of sex on neonatal outcomes following prenatal opioid exposure...

BACKGROUND: Acute neurological manifestation is a common complication of acute Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease. This retrospective cohort study investigated the 3-year outcomes of patients with and without significant neurological manifestations during initial COVID-19 hospitalization. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Patients hospitalized for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection between 03/01/2020 and 4/16/2020 in the Montefiore Health System in the Bronx, an epicenter of the early pandemic, were included...

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a neurodegenerative condition often co-occurring with Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Characterizing white matter tissue microstructure using Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging (NODDI) may help elucidate the biological underpinnings of white matter injury in individuals with DLB. In this study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and NODDI metrics were compared in 45 patients within the dementia with Lewy bodies spectrum (mild cognitive impairment with Lewy bodies (n = 13) and probable dementia with Lewy bodies (n = 32)) against 45 matched controls using conditional logistic models...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The injury of the cholinergic white matter pathway underlies cognition decline in patients with silent cerebrovascular disease (SCD) with white matter hyperintensities (WMH) of vascular origin. However, the evaluation of the cholinergic white matter pathway is complex with poor consistency. We established an intelligent algorithm to evaluate WMH in the cholinergic pathway. METHODS: Patients with SCD with WMH of vascular origin were enrolled...

OBJECTIVE: There are differences in the vulnerability of male and female fetal brains to adverse intrauterine exposure, preterm birth, and associated perinatal brain injury. The main objective of this study was to identify any statistically significant difference in the change of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in the intracranial regions of male and female fetuses in the second and third trimesters. METHODS: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was performed in 200 fetuses between 20 and 37 gestational ages (GA) with normal results or suspicious results on sonography followed by structural MRI...

Normal aging is associated with significant deleterious cerebrovascular changes; these have been implicated in disease pathogenesis and increased susceptibility to ischemic injury. While these changes are well documented in the brain, few studies have been conducted in the spinal cord. Here, we utilize specialized contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging to investigate age-related changes in cervical spinal vascular anatomy and hemodynamics in male Fisher 344 rats, a common strain in aging research. Aged rats (24-26 mo...

Spared regions of the damaged central nervous system undergo dynamic remodeling and exhibit a remarkable potential for therapeutic exploitation. Here, lesion-remote astrocytes (LRAs), which interact with viable neurons, glia and neural circuitry, undergo reactive transformations whose molecular and functional properties are poorly understood. Using multiple transcriptional profiling methods, we interrogated LRAs from spared regions of mouse spinal cord following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). We show that LRAs acquire a spectrum of molecularly distinct, neuroanatomically restricted reactivity states that evolve after SCI...

BACKGROUND: Mild traumatic brain injury patients commonly complain headache and central pain, and the pain accompanies depressive mood change. This case study reports the therapeutic effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in mild traumatic brain injury patient with headache and depression through objective serial changes of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). METHODS: The 51-year-old man complained of headache and depression despite conventional treatment for 13 months...

PURPOSE: Although traditional craniotomy (TC) surgery has failed to show benefits for the functional outcome of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, a minimally invasive hematoma removal plan to avoid white matter fiber damage may be a safer and more feasible surgical approach, which may improve the prognosis of ICH. We conducted a historical cohort study on the use of multimodal image fusion-assisted neuroendoscopic surgery (MINS) for the treatment of ICH, and compared its safety and effectiveness with traditional methods...

INTRODUCTION: We previously proposed a novel taxonomic framework to describe the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) profiles of white matter tracts by their diffusivity and neural properties. We have shown the relevance of this strategy toward interpreting brain tissue signatures in Classic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus vs. comparator cohorts of mild traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's disease. In this iteration of the Periodic Table of DTI Elements, we examined patterns of tissue distortion in Complex NPH ( Co NPH) and validated the methodology against an open-access dataset of healthy subjects, to expand its accessibility to a larger community...

BACKGROUND: Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) encompass a group of rare diseases with hereditary and genetic causes as well as acquired causes such as brain injuries or metabolic abnormalities. The phosphofurin acidic cluster sorting protein 2 (PACS2) is a multifunctional protein with nuclear gene expression. The first cases of the recurrent c.625G>A pathogenic variant of PACS2 gene were reported in 2018 by Olson et al. Since then, several case reports and case series have been published...

Neurofilaments light chain (NfLs) are currently recognized as a marker of axonal injury and degeneration. Their measurement in biological fluids has a promising role in the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of the therapeutic response in neurological diseases, including neurodegenerative dementias. In recent years, their relationship with clinical phenotypes and measures of disease severity has been extensively studied. Here, we reviewed studies investigating the association between NfLs and imaging measures of grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) damage in neurodegenerative dementias...

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) often induces significant disability in patients, including long-term motor deficits. Early detection of injury severity is key in determining a prognosis and creating appropriate intervention and rehabilitation plans. However, conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, such as T2 Weighted (T2W) sequences, do not reliably assess the extent of microstructural white matter injury. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography enables three-dimensional reconstruction of specific white matter tracts throughout the brain in order to detect white matter injury based on anisotropic diffusion...

The generation of new myelin-forming oligodendrocytes in the adult central nervous system is critical for cognitive function and regeneration following injury. Oligodendrogenesis varies between gray and white matter regions, suggesting that local cues drive regional differences in myelination and the capacity for regeneration. However, the layer- and region-specific regulation of oligodendrocyte populations is unclear due to the inability to monitor deep brain structures in vivo. Here we harnessed the superior imaging depth of three-photon microscopy to permit long-term, longitudinal in vivo three-photon imaging of the entire cortical column and subcortical white matter in adult mice...

We aimed to evaluate whether white and gray matter microstructure changes observed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be used to reflect the progression of chronic brain trauma. The MRI-DTI parameters, neuropathologic changes, and behavioral performance of adult male Wistar rats that underwent moderate (2.1 atm on day "0") or repeated mild (1.5 atm on days "0" and "2") traumatic brain injury (TBI or rmTBI) or sham operation were evaluated at 7 days, 14 days, and 1-9 months after surgery...

Brain injury is highly associated with preterm birth. Complications of prematurity, including spontaneous or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)-associated intestinal perforations, are linked to lifelong neurologic impairment, yet the mechanisms are poorly understood. Early diagnosis of preterm brain injuries remains a significant challenge. Here, we identified subventricular zone echogenicity (SVE) on cranial ultrasound in preterm infants following intestinal perforations. The development of SVE was significantly associated with motor impairment at 2 years...

White matter injury (WMI) is a common neurological issue in premature-born neonates, often causing long-term disabilities. We recently demonstrated a key beneficial role of Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stromal cell-derived small extracellular vesicles (WJ-MSC-sEVs) microRNAs (miRNAs) in WMI-related processes in vitro. Here, we studied the functions of WJ-MSC-sEV miRNAs in vivo using a preclinical rat model of premature WMI. Premature WMI was induced in rat pups through inflammation and hypoxia-ischemia. Small EVs were purified from the culture supernatant of human WJ-MSCs...

In the past decade, signature clinical neuropathology of blast-induced traumatic brain injury has been under intense debate, but interface astroglial scarring (IAS) seems to be convincing. In this study, we examined whether IAS could be replicated in the rat brain exposed to a laser-induced shock wave(s) (LISW[s]), a tool that can produce a pure shock wave (primary mechanism) without dynamic pressure (tertiary mechanism). Under certain conditions, we observed astroglial scarring in the subpial glial plate (SGP), grey-white matter junctions (GM-WM), ventricular wall (VW) and regions surrounding cortical blood vessels, accurately reproducing clinical IAS...