Review of the relevant anatomy (MS)

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Review of the relevant anatomy (MS)

Last updated on Friday, April 24 2009 by jdmiles

Demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis and the leukoencephalopathies affect the myelin around axons of the central nervous system (CNS). Myelinated axons are concentrated in the white matter of the CNS.

The images below provide a quick review of white matter in the CNS. Click any of the thumbnails to enlarge the image.

Related images:

Thoracic Spinal Cord Cross-Section
This image from Gray's anatomy illustrates a transverse section of the spinal cord in the mid-thoracic region. Move your mouse over the image to highlight the white matter tracts.

Oligodendrocyte
A mouse oligodendrocyte, transfected with GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) and photographed using a 63x objective. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, created by Jurjen Broeke, and released by him into the public domain. Thanks, Jurjen!