UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Dorsal and ventral horn atrophy is associated with clinical outcome after spinal cord injury

Huber, E; David, G; Thompson, AJ; Weiskopf, N; Mohammadi, S; Freund, P; (2018) Dorsal and ventral horn atrophy is associated with clinical outcome after spinal cord injury. Neurology , 90 (17) e1510-e1522. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000005361. Green open access

[thumbnail of Freund VoR e1510.full.pdf]
Preview
Text
Freund VoR e1510.full.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether gray matter pathology above the level of injury, alongside white matter changes, also contributes to sensorimotor impairments after spinal cord injury. METHODS: A 3T MRI protocol was acquired in 17 tetraplegic patients and 21 controls. A sagittal T2-weighted sequence was used to characterize lesion severity. At the C2-3 level, a high-resolution T2*-weighted sequence was used to assess cross-sectional areas of gray and white matter, including their subcompartments; a diffusion-weighted sequence was used to compute voxel-based diffusion indices. Regression models determined associations between lesion severity and tissue-specific neurodegeneration and associations between the latter with neurophysiologic and clinical outcome. RESULTS: Neurodegeneration was evident within the dorsal and ventral horns and white matter above the level of injury. Tract-specific neurodegeneration was associated with prolonged conduction of appropriate electrophysiologic recordings. Dorsal horn atrophy was associated with sensory outcome, while ventral horn atrophy was associated with motor outcome. White matter integrity of dorsal columns and corticospinal tracts was associated with daily-life independence. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that, next to anterograde and retrograde degeneration of white matter tracts, neuronal circuits within the spinal cord far above the level of injury undergo transsynaptic neurodegeneration, resulting in specific gray matter changes. Such improved understanding of tissue-specific cord pathology offers potential biomarkers with more efficient targeting and monitoring of neuroregenerative (i.e., white matter) and neuroprotective (i.e., gray matter) agents.

Type: Article
Title: Dorsal and ventral horn atrophy is associated with clinical outcome after spinal cord injury
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000005361
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000005361
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Department of Neuromuscular Diseases
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Imaging Neuroscience
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10046696
Downloads since deposit
75Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item