Changes of statistical structural fluctuations unveils an early compacted degraded stage of PNS myelin

Abstract

Degradation of the myelin sheath is a common pathology underlying demyelinating neurological diseases from Multiple Sclerosis to Leukodistrophies. Although large malformations of myelin ultrastructure in the advanced stages of Wallerian degradation is known, its subtle structural variations at early stages of demyelination remains poorly characterized. This is partly due to the lack of suitable and non-invasive experimental probes possessing sufficient resolution to detect the degradation. Here we report the feasibility of the application of an innovative non-invasive local structure experimental approach for imaging the changes of statistical structural fluctuations in the first stage of myelin degeneration. Scanning micro X-ray diffraction, using advances in synchrotron x-ray beam focusing, fast data collection, paired with spatial statistical analysis, has been used to unveil temporal changes in the myelin structure of dissected nerves following extraction of the Xenopus laevis sciatic nerve. The early myelin degeneration is a specific ordered compacted phase preceding the swollen myelin phase of Wallerian degradation. Our demonstration of the feasibility of the statistical analysis of SmXRD measurements using biological tissue paves the way for further structural investigations of degradation and death of neurons and other cells and tissues in diverse pathological states where nanoscale structural changes may be uncovered.

16 pages, 6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Intrinsic arrested nanoscale phase separation near a topological Lifshitz transition in strongly correlated two-band metals
• High Temperature superconductivity in a hyperbolic geometry of complex matter from nanoscale to mesoscopic scale
• Nanoscale correlated disorder in out-of-equilibrium myelin ultrastructure
• Correlated disorder in myelinated axons orientational geometry and structure
• 2D nano-granularity of the oxygen chains in the YBa2Cu3O6.33 superconductor