When Mary began experiencing paresis and spasticity in her lowerextremities, she knew that something was seriously wrong. She wasfinally diagnosed as having a form of relapsing remitting multiplesclerosis. An MRI performed during one of her more severe“episodes†revealed lesions (lower left) that appeared to improveafter three months (lower right). Her neurologist explained thatall of her previous episodes could be explained by the underlyingcause of this disease. Mary learned that the progression of thisdisease is highly variable and was told that while many of thesymptoms she reported are common, the combination of symptoms inher experience is very rare.
1) In the MRI images you can see the lesions as bright “whitespots†on the brain. Using what you know about the structure of aneuron, explain what is causing this spot to appear on the MRI. 2)The brain has specific cells that are responsible for theimprovement that you can see in the MRI images. What are thesecells and what function to they perform?
3) How does this form of MS differ from other forms?
