Objective The major form of MRI-defined white matter injury (WMI) comprises diffuse lesions where the burden of small necrotic foci (microscopic necrosis) is poorly defined. We hypothesized that myelination failure associated with diffuse WMI involves an aberrant injury response linked to arrested pre-oligodendrocyte (preOL) maturation in reactive astrocyte-rich lesions. Methods A retrospective autopsy series (1983–2000) was selected for cases with diffuse WMI and analyzed relative to prospectively-collected contemporary cases (2003–2010). Controls were age and region-matched to address regional variation in preOL maturation. Successive oligodendrocyte stages were analyzed with lineage-specific markers. Microscopic necrosis was quantified with microglial markers. Axon injury markers defined the burden of axonopathy. Extracellular matrix remodelling was defined by detection of hyaluronic acid (HA), an inhibitor of preOL maturation, and the HA receptor, CD44. Results In the contemporary case series, diffuse WMI was accompanied by a significant reduction in the burden of microscopic necrosis and axonopathy. Diffuse astrogliosis extended into the lesion surround with elevated HA and astrocyte-expressed CD44. The total population of OL lineage stages was significantly increased in lesions. This increase coincided with significant expansion of the preOL pool. Interpretation Although these data confirm that microscopic necrosis occurs in contemporary cases, the markedly decreased burden supports that it does not contribute substantially to myelination failure. The primary mechanism of myelination failure involves a disrupted cellular response whereby preOLs fail to differentiate in diffuse astrogliotic lesions. Pre-oligodendrocyte maturation arrest converts chronic WMI to a more immature state related to the burden of astrogliosis.

Objective-Abnormal myelination is a major pathological sequela of chronic periventricular white matter injury (PWMI) in survivors of premature birth. We tested the hypothesis that myelination failure in chronic hypoxia-ischemia-induced PWMI is related to persistent depletion of the oligodendroctye (OL) precursor pool required to generate mature myelinating OLs.Methods-A neonatal rat model of hypoxia-ischemia was employed where acute degeneration of late OL progenitors (preOLs) occurs via a mostly caspase-independent mechanism. The fate of OL lineage cells in chronic cerebral lesions was defined with OL-lineage-specific markers.Results-Acute caspase-3-independent preOL degeneration from hypoxia-ischemia was significantly augmented by delayed preOL death that was caspase-3-dependent. Degeneration of preOLs was offset by a robust regenerative response that resulted in a several-fold expansion in the pool of surviving preOLs in chronic lesions. However, these preOLs displayed persistent maturation arrest with failure to differentiate and generate myelin. When preOL-rich chronic lesions sustained recurrent hypoxia-ischemia at a time in development when white matter is normally resistant to injury, an approximately 10-fold increase in caspase-dependent preOL degeneration occurred relative to lesions caused by a single episode of hypoxia-ischemia.Interpretation-The mechanism of myelination failure in chronic white matter lesions is related to a combination of delayed preOL degeneration and preOL maturation arrest. The persistence of a susceptible population of preOLs renders chronic white matter lesions markedly more vulnerable to recurrent hypoxia-ischemia. These data suggest that preOL maturation arrest may predispose to more severe white matter injury in preterm survivors that sustain recurrent hypoxia-ischemia.Human periventricular white matter injury (PWMI) is the major form of brain injury and leading cause of cerebral palsy in survivors of premature birth. With advances in neonatal care, a changing spectrum of chronic PWMI has emerged. Whereas focal cystic necrotic lesions (periventricular leukomalacia; PVL) previously predominated, 1, 2 recent neuroimaging studies support that focal or diffuse noncystic myelination disturbances and cerebral gray matter atrophy are now the major lesions associated with chronic PWMI. [3][4][5][6] The critically-ill preterm neonate appears to be particularly susceptible to ischemic white matter injury related to developmentally-regulated susceptibility of preOLs to oxidative 4

Objective Previously we reported that exposure of 6-day old (P6) rhesus macaques to isoflurane for 5 hours triggers a robust neuroapoptosis response in developing brain. We have also observed (unpublished) that isoflurane causes apoptosis of cellular profiles in the white matter that resemble glia. We analyzed the cellular identity of the apoptotic white matter profiles and determined the magnitude of this cell death response to isoflurane. Method Neonatal (P6) rhesus macaques were exposed for 5 hours to isoflurane anesthesia according to current clinical standards in pediatric anesthesia. Brains were collected 3 hours later and examined immunohistochemically to analyze apoptotic neuronal and glial death. Results Brains exposed to isoflurane displayed significant apoptosis in both the white and gray matter throughout the CNS. Approximately 52% of the dying cells were glia, and 48% were neurons. Oligodendrocytes (OL) engaged in myelinogenesis were selectively vulnerable, in contrast to OL progenitors, astrocytes, microglia and interstitial neurons. When adjusted for control rates of OL apoptosis, the percentage of OLs that degenerated in the forebrain white matter of the isoflurane-treated group was 6.3% of the total population of myelinating OLs. Interpretation Exposure of the infant rhesus macaque brain to isoflurane for 5 hours is sufficient to cause widespread apoptosis of neurons and OLs throughout the developing brain. Deletion of OLs at a stage when they are just beginning to myelinate axons could potentially have adverse long term neurobehavioral consequences, that might be additive to the potential consequences of isoflurane-induced neuroapoptosis.

Objective Although MRI is the optimal imaging modality to define cerebral white-matter injury (WMI) in preterm survivors, the histopathological features of MRI-defined chronic lesions are poorly defined. We hypothesized that chronic WMI is related to a combination of delayed oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage cell death and arrested maturation of pre-oligodendrocytes (preOLs). We determined whether ex vivo MRI can distinguish distinct microglial and astroglial responses related to WMI progression and arrested preOL differentiation. Methods We employed a preterm fetal sheep model of global cerebral ischemia where acute WMI results in selective preOL degeneration. We developed novel algorithms to register histopathologically defined lesions with contrast- and diffusion-weighted high-field ex vivo MRI data. Results Despite mild delayed preOL degeneration, preOL density recovered to control levels by 7 days after ischemia and was ~2 fold greater at 14 days. However, pre-myelinating OLs were significantly diminished at 7 and 14 days. WMI evolved to mostly gliotic lesions where arrested preOL differentiation was directly proportional to the magnitude of astrogliosis. A reduction in cerebral WM volume was accompanied by four classes of MRI-defined lesions. Each lesion type displayed unique astroglial and microglial responses that corresponded to distinct forms of necrotic or non-necrotic injury. High-field MRI defined two novel hypo-intense signal abnormalities on T2-weighted images that coincided with microscopic necrosis or identified astrogliosis with high sensitivity and specificity. Interpretation These studies support the potential of high-field MRI for early identification of microscopic necrosis and gliosis with preOL maturation arrest, a common form of WMI in preterm survivors.

Children who survive preterm birth exhibit persistent unexplained disturbances in cerebral cortical growth with associated cognitive and learning disabilities. The mechanisms underlying these deficits remain elusive. We used ex vivo diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate in a preterm large-animal model that cerebral ischemia impairs cortical growth and the normal maturational decline in cortical fractional anisotropy (FA). Analysis of pyramidal neurons revealed that cortical deficits were associated with impaired expansion of the dendritic arbor and reduced synaptic density. Together, these findings suggest a link between abnormal cortical FA and disturbances of neuronal morphological development. To experimentally investigate this possibility, we measured the orientation distribution of dendritic branches and observed that it corresponds with the theoretically predicted pattern of increased anisotropy within cases that exhibited elevated cortical FA after ischemia. We conclude that cortical growth impairments are associated with diffuse disturbances in the dendritic arbor and synapse formation of cortical neurons, which may underlie the cognitive and learning disabilities in survivors of preterm birth. Further, measurement of cortical FA may be useful for noninvasively detecting neurological disorders affecting cortical development.