Retrieving Orientation and Distribution of Myelin in Human Brain affected by Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) using 3D Scanning Small Angle X-r

Neurodegeneration is the progressive loss of structure and/or function of neurons and might include the death of neurons. Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is such a neurodegenerative disease that occur as a result of neurodegenerative processes. We would like to study the structural changes in a brain section, obtained from a human subject that suffered and died from MSA with the brain section of a non-pathological reference. We plan to extract the local fiber and glial structures and, in particular, the myelin content in 60 micron-thick sections through a post-mortem human pons and compare the results with a non-pathological sample. Here, we propose to carry out 3D scanning small-angle X-ray scattering (3D sSAXS) to determine the 3D structural details of the microstructural objects (nerve fiber, cell body, myelin) in the selective regions (area ~ 10 x 10 mm2) of the brain sections.

神经退行性变（Neurodegeneration）指神经元结构与/或功能的进行性丧失，还可能伴随神经元死亡。多系统萎缩（Multiple system atrophy, MSA）正是一类由神经退行性病理过程引发的神经退行性疾病。本研究拟对罹患并死于多系统萎缩的人类受试者的脑组织切片，与非病理性对照脑组织切片进行比对，以探究二者的结构变化。我们计划提取厚度为60微米的死后人类脑桥组织切片中的局部纤维与胶质细胞结构，尤其关注髓鞘含量，并将分析结果与非病理性对照样本进行对比。为此，我们拟采用三维扫描小角度X射线散射（3D scanning small-angle X-ray scattering, 3D sSAXS）技术，对脑组织切片的特定区域（面积约10×10 mm²）内的微观结构对象（神经纤维、细胞体、髓鞘）的三维结构细节进行测定。