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Pathogenic implications of distinct patterns of iron and zinc in chronic MS lesions

Popescu, Bogdan F. ; Frischer, Josa M. ; Webb, Samuel M. ; Tham, Mylyne ; Adiele, Reginald C. ; Robinson, Christopher A. ; Fitz-Gibbon, Patrick D. ; Weigand, Stephen D. ; Metz, Imke and Nehzati, Susan LU , et al. (2017) In Acta Neuropathologica 134(1). p.45-64
Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in which oligodendrocytes, the CNS cells that stain most robustly for iron and myelin are the targets of injury. Metals are essential for normal CNS functioning, and metal imbalances have been linked to demyelination and neurodegeneration. Using a multidisciplinary approach involving synchrotron techniques, iron histochemistry and immunohistochemistry, we compared the distribution and quantification of iron and zinc in MS lesions to the surrounding normal appearing and periplaque white matter, and assessed the involvement of these metals in MS lesion pathogenesis. We found that the distribution of iron and zinc is heterogeneous in... (More)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in which oligodendrocytes, the CNS cells that stain most robustly for iron and myelin are the targets of injury. Metals are essential for normal CNS functioning, and metal imbalances have been linked to demyelination and neurodegeneration. Using a multidisciplinary approach involving synchrotron techniques, iron histochemistry and immunohistochemistry, we compared the distribution and quantification of iron and zinc in MS lesions to the surrounding normal appearing and periplaque white matter, and assessed the involvement of these metals in MS lesion pathogenesis. We found that the distribution of iron and zinc is heterogeneous in MS plaques, and with few remarkable exceptions they do not accumulate in chronic MS lesions. We show that brain iron tends to decrease with increasing age and disease duration of MS patients; reactive astrocytes organized in large astrogliotic areas in a subset of smoldering and inactive plaques accumulate iron and safely store it in ferritin; a subset of smoldering lesions do not contain a rim of iron-loaded macrophages/microglia; and the iron content of shadow plaques varies with the stage of remyelination. Zinc in MS lesions was generally decreased, paralleling myelin loss. Iron accumulates concentrically in a subset of chronic inactive lesions suggesting that not all iron rims around MS lesions equate with smoldering plaques. Upon degeneration of iron-loaded microglia/macrophages, astrocytes may form an additional protective barrier that may prevent iron-induced oxidative damage.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
Astrocyte, Iron, Multiple sclerosis, Oligodendrocyte, Remyelination, Shadow plaque, Smoldering lesion, Synchrotron, Zinc
in
Acta Neuropathologica
volume
134
issue
1
pages
20 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85015897281
  • pmid:28332093
ISSN
0001-6322
DOI
10.1007/s00401-017-1696-8
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
5760a716-67b3-413f-98ee-b46f099000b0
date added to LUP
2020-01-30 13:15:31
date last changed
2024-06-12 08:52:30
@article{5760a716-67b3-413f-98ee-b46f099000b0,
  abstract     = {{<p>Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in which oligodendrocytes, the CNS cells that stain most robustly for iron and myelin are the targets of injury. Metals are essential for normal CNS functioning, and metal imbalances have been linked to demyelination and neurodegeneration. Using a multidisciplinary approach involving synchrotron techniques, iron histochemistry and immunohistochemistry, we compared the distribution and quantification of iron and zinc in MS lesions to the surrounding normal appearing and periplaque white matter, and assessed the involvement of these metals in MS lesion pathogenesis. We found that the distribution of iron and zinc is heterogeneous in MS plaques, and with few remarkable exceptions they do not accumulate in chronic MS lesions. We show that brain iron tends to decrease with increasing age and disease duration of MS patients; reactive astrocytes organized in large astrogliotic areas in a subset of smoldering and inactive plaques accumulate iron and safely store it in ferritin; a subset of smoldering lesions do not contain a rim of iron-loaded macrophages/microglia; and the iron content of shadow plaques varies with the stage of remyelination. Zinc in MS lesions was generally decreased, paralleling myelin loss. Iron accumulates concentrically in a subset of chronic inactive lesions suggesting that not all iron rims around MS lesions equate with smoldering plaques. Upon degeneration of iron-loaded microglia/macrophages, astrocytes may form an additional protective barrier that may prevent iron-induced oxidative damage.</p>}},
  author       = {{Popescu, Bogdan F. and Frischer, Josa M. and Webb, Samuel M. and Tham, Mylyne and Adiele, Reginald C. and Robinson, Christopher A. and Fitz-Gibbon, Patrick D. and Weigand, Stephen D. and Metz, Imke and Nehzati, Susan and George, Graham N. and Pickering, Ingrid J. and Brück, Wolfgang and Hametner, Simon and Lassmann, Hans and Parisi, Joseph E. and Yong, Guo and Lucchinetti, Claudia F.}},
  issn         = {{0001-6322}},
  keywords     = {{Astrocyte; Iron; Multiple sclerosis; Oligodendrocyte; Remyelination; Shadow plaque; Smoldering lesion; Synchrotron; Zinc}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{45--64}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Acta Neuropathologica}},
  title        = {{Pathogenic implications of distinct patterns of iron and zinc in chronic MS lesions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00401-017-1696-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00401-017-1696-8}},
  volume       = {{134}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}