Multiple sclerosis is notorious for doing damage to the brain's ability to communicate with the rest of the body. But what creates the decline in mental clarity that some patients experience?It turns out that the brain's communication system and a patient's cognitive abilities are closely connected – but maybe not in the way that you would think.
Researchers have found that people with MS who have an enhanced brain “default mode” experience greater difficulty with decision-making, planning, memory, and other cognitive tasks.
The study was conducted by a team of scientists working at Washington University, the University Medical Center at Hamburg-Eppendorf and the University ofTübingen. They wanted to learn about how structural damage to the brain is connected to cognitive problems caused by MS, and if it's related to how different regions of the brain communicate, or “network.”
MS attacks brain cell branches, hampering their ability to communicate. The brain tries to overcome the damage by redirecting energy to allow signals to go through damaged branches.
But that in itself may create a problem, researchers speculate. With the energy brought in to push signals through broken pathways, the brain might have a harder time reconfiguring itself for cognitive tasks like speaking, movement, and recalling memory.
They looked at 16 patients with early-stage MS, who had been diagnosed within the past four years. The patients were put through behavioral and cognitive tests, brain scans to identify damage, and researchers also evaluated the connectedness of different brain regions.
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