Acute Axonal Injury in MS, Article Review Example

The article refers to the examination of axonal injury that occurs in the flow of multiple sclerosis. The authors characterize association of axonal injury and histopathological hallmarks thereof such as demyelization, cellular infiltration and inflammation. They assume that the effect can be quantified in the early lesion development stage of multiple sclerosis (Bitsch et al., 2000). The research has been conducted for 10 years on 42 patients who had the initial stage of multiple sclerosis, and the relative independence of demyelination, axon destruction and inflammation processes. These findings contradict the conventional outlook at the coherence between the discussed processes. More than that, biopsies during the 10-year period provided the substantial material for further research on causal relationships between demyelination and axon injury (Bitsch et al., 2000).

The article in general looks appealing from the point of view of innovative approaches and methods to investigate the causes and core processes that shape the flow of multiple sclerosis and govern axon damage and demyelination. Taking into account how under-investigated multiple sclerosis at early stages it, one can assess the attempt to clear the matter out really promising. The methodological approach is also innovative in the field where autopsy was conventionally used to measure the impact on axons. However, the authors reasonably note that the credible assessment of axon destruction can be done with the help of biopsy only in case the destruction occurred several days before the analysis, which is hard to predict and measure (Bitsch et al., 2000).

Conclusions are relative to the overall topic of the discussion, but the main question is left without an answer – though the article seems to be focused on axon damage, the results pertain more to demyelination. Interpretation is correct, but the initial task is not fulfilled. Consequently, choosing a different, more comprehensive method of analysis is essential to achieve more productive and precise results. Statistical correlation is not enough to explain causal relationships between the described phenomena; additional methodologies combining autopsy with biopsy methods and research with more respondents. Limitations of research may be the missing areas of ongoing demyelination in the vicinity of the remyelinating lesions (Bitsch et al., 2000). Thus, a more extended and comprehensive approach may eliminate the limitations and challenges that emerged in the course of the present study.

References

Bitsch, A. et al. (2000). Acute Axonal Injury in Multiple Sclerosis: Correlation with Demyelination and Inflammation. Brain, no. 123, pp. 1174-1183.