Oxidative damage and respiratory burst in Multiple Sclerosis

In this project we focused on white matter injury in relapsing remitting MS. We concentrated on material obtained from patients who suffered from fulminant active MS to identify possible sources for ROS production in relation to demyelination and neurodegeneration. We performed genome-wide microarray analyses of gene expression in carefully dissected lesions of patients with fulminant acute MS. Preceding the gene expression profiling all cases were characterized histologically and areas of interest were identified. We included 4 control cases, 2 active MS cases from which we separated 3 distinct lesions areas per case (NAWM, initial lesion and early demyelinated lesion) and 1 active MS case from which we separated 2 distinct lesion areas (NAWM and early demyelinated lesion). The RNA was isolated from those areas, amplified and hybridized to Agilent G4112A whole genome microarrays. UPDATE in 2013! We additionally included a fourth acute MS case, from which we microdissected 2 different initial lesions and 2 different early demyelinated lesions. Data was re-normalized and re-analyzed.