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closeRESULTS INTERPRETATION
Posted by PaoloZamboni on 05 Apr 2012 at 10:16 GMT
This is a very nice article on animal model of MS and CCSVI. The experiment is well conduit and I would congratulate the Authors. The main problem lies in data interpretation. It seems to me that the main purpose is to "hide" a result on the one hand, and to just privilege a single negative on the other.
Let me explain better:
1) the “hidden result” is that only the group of rats with the ligated jugulars develops a problem of cerebral hypoperfusion. This aspect is not measured in both sham and EAE rats. This is a very important result because the cerebral hypoperfusion is a constant feature of human MS, clearly not explained by the autoimmune theory (1). Alternatively, it seems that hypoperfusion in the human being can be rather explained by the CCSVI (1-2). From this point of view the animal model confirms that the stenosis of the jugular veins leads to cerebral hypoperfusion, which is one of the aspects of human MS never reproduced in the animal model of MS. From this point of view this experiment is an important contribution in order to achieve a model similar to the human disease.
2) demyelination and neuro-degeneration occurs only in EAE animals, a fact long known, but in CCSVI or sham did not. Also clinical and neuro-inflammatory parameters were not responsive in CCSVI model. This is not surprising as 3-6 months of slightly reduced hypoperfusion are not likely to be able to determine a damage of this magnitude. It should be more interesting to assess more refined parameters at cellular and axonal level in CCSVI model respect to sham.
REFERENCES
1. D'haeseleer M, Cambron M, Vanopdenbosch L, De Keyser J. Vascular aspects of multiple sclerosis. Lancet Neurol. 2011 Jul;10(7):657-66
2. Zamboni P, Menegatti E, Weinstock-Guttman B, Dwyer MG, Schirda CV, Malagoni AM, Hojnacki D, Kennedy C, Carl E, Bergsland N, Magnano C, Bartolomei I, Salvi F, Zivadinov R. Hypoperfusion of brain parenchyma is associated with the severity of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency in patients with multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional preliminary report. BMC Med. 2011 Mar 7;9:22.