Mapping of pathological change in chronic fatigue syndrome using the ratio of T1- and T2-weighted MRI scans

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Thapaliya, K
Marshall-Gradisnik, S
Staines, D
Barnden, L
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2020
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Abstract

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) subjects suffer from a variety of cognitive complaints indicating that the central nervous system plays a role in its pathophysiology. Recently, the ratio T1w/T2w has been used to study changes in tissue myelin and/or iron levels in neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia. In this study, we applied the T1w/T2w method to detect changes in tissue microstructure in ME/CFS patients relative to healthy controls. We mapped the T1w/T2w signal intensity values in the whole brain for forty-five ME/CFS patients who met Fukuda criteria and twenty-seven healthy controls and applied both region- and voxel-based quantification. We also performed interaction-with-group regressions with clinical measures to test for T1w/T2w relationships that are abnormal in ME/CFS at the population level. Region-based analysis showed significantly elevated T1w/T2w values (increased myelin and/or iron) in ME/CFS in both white matter (WM) and subcortical grey matter. The voxel-based group comparison with sub-millimetre resolution voxels detected very significant clusters with increased T1w/T2w in ME/CFS, mostly in subcortical grey matter, but also in brainstem and projection WM tracts. No areas with decreased T1w/T2w were found in either analysis. ME/CFS T1w/T2w regressions with heart-rate variability, cognitive performance, respiration rate and physical well-being were abnormal in both gray and white matter foci. Our study demonstrates that the T1w/T2w approach is very sensitive and shows increases in myelin and/or iron in WM and basal ganglia in ME/CFS.

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NeuroImage: Clinical

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28

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© 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.

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Subject

Neurosciences

Biological psychology

Clinical and health psychology

Basal ganglia

Iron

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic fatigue syndrome

Myelin

T1w/T2w ratio

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Thapaliya, K; Marshall-Gradisnik, S; Staines, D; Barnden, L, Mapping of pathological change in chronic fatigue syndrome using the ratio of T1- and T2-weighted MRI scans, NeuroImage: Clinical, 2020, 28, pp. 102366

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