Abstract
In this review the differences in pathology and disease mechanisms between early and
late stages of multiple sclerosis are discussed. The data suggest that affection of
the brain is different, depending on the location of lesions, on the stage of the
disease, when lesions arise, and on inter-individual differences between patients.
We suggest that in the early stage of the disease new lesions are formed by new waves
of inflammatory cells, entering the central nervous system from the circulation and
giving rise to focal demyelinated plaques in the white and gray matter. In contrast,
at late stages of the disease inflammation decreases, but the susceptibility of the
target tissue for neurodegeneration increases. New data suggest that mitochondrial
injury, mediated through oxidative injury, is in the center of the pathogenetic events
leading to brain damage in multiple sclerosis patients.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 04, 2013
Accepted:
May 10,
2013
Received in revised form:
May 3,
2013
Received:
February 15,
2012
Footnotes
☆This article was part of the 2011 European Charcot Foundation Conference.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
