Jordan C. Bell1,
Qingwei Liu2, Qiang Zhao3, Yong-Jun Wang4,
Fu-Dong Shi1, Gregory H. Turner2
1Neurology,
Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, United States; 2Neuroimaging
Research, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, United States; 3Neurology,
Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin, China; 4Neurology,
Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), an inflammatory demyelinating disease with poor prognosis, predominantly affects optic nerves and spinal cord. Differential diagnosis between NMO and multiple sclerosis (MS), particularly at the early stage of disease, constitutes a clinical dilemma due to the similarity between NMO and optic-spinal MS. TCR transgenic mice (2D2) have potential as a valuable model of NMO. Correlation of contrast-enhanced MRI with immunohistological staining revealed the extent of inflammatory infiltrates as well as demyelination that mirrored sites of MRI lesions. This characterization leads us to believe that the 2D2 TCR transgenic mouse would be a helpful model for NMO research