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Correlation Between Neurological Deficits and Spinal Cord Pathological Changes in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis

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Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neuroinflammatory disease causing a wide spectrum of clinical signs and symptoms. Neuropathological changes in MS including inflammation, demyelination and axonal degeneration are seen in the animal counterpart of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and are biomarkers to follow the pathophysiology and any pharmacology of MS in experimental studies. To elucidate the pattern of these pathological abnormalities in EAE, different aspects of pathological findings and their correlations were studied in the model. EAE induction was done using myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) 35–55 in C57BL/6 mice and hematoxylin and eosin, Luxol-fast-blue and Bielschowsky staining were used for histopathological evaluation in the lumbar, thoracic and cervical spinal cord. There were significant positive correlations between neurological disease score in EAE mice and each of these pathological findings: inflammation score, demyelination score and axonal degeneration. These correlations were observed regardless of the anatomic regions studied. Inflammation and demyelination scores were significantly associated. Degeneration and demyelination scores were correlated positively also. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between scores of inflammation and degeneration in neither of the three anatomical regions of the spinal cords of EAE mice. This study optimizes the EAE model regarding pathological findings in correlation with neurological deficits in the model. The results will help in better utility of the model in MS research.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Authors would also like to thank Mr. Koohi and Miss. Ebrahimpour for their technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Faegheh Baha’addini Beigi Zarandi

  2. Transplant Research Center, Department of Pathology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Bita Geramizadeh

  3. Non-communicable Diseases Research Center, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran

    Mojtaba Farjam

  4. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Shirin Farjadian

  5. Department of Tissue Engineering, School of Advanced Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Ali Alizadeh

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  1. Faegheh Baha’addini Beigi Zarandi
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  2. Bita Geramizadeh
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  3. Mojtaba Farjam
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  4. Shirin Farjadian
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  5. Ali Alizadeh
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Correspondence to Mojtaba Farjam.

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Zarandi, F.B.B., Geramizadeh, B., Farjam, M. et al. Correlation Between Neurological Deficits and Spinal Cord Pathological Changes in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Sci 41, 867–871 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40995-017-0256-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40995-017-0256-3

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