Impaired motion perception is associated with functional and structural visual pathway damage in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders

Noah Ayadi; Frederike C Oertel; Susanna Asseyer; Rebekka Rust; Ankelien Duchow; Joseph Kuchling; Judith Bellmann-Strobl; Klemens Ruprecht; Alexander Klistorner; Alexander U Brandt; Friedemann Paul; Hanna G Zimmermann

doi:10.1177/13524585211032801

Impaired motion perception is associated with functional and structural visual pathway damage in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders

Mult Scler. 2022 Apr;28(5):757-767. doi: 10.1177/13524585211032801. Epub 2021 Aug 11.

Affiliations

¹ Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany/NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
² Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany/NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany/Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
³ Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany/NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany/ Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia/ Save Sight Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany/NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany/Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Decreased motion perception has been suggested as a marker for visual pathway demyelination in optic neuritis (ON) and/or multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objectives: To examine the influence of neuro-axonal damage on motion perception in MS and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD).

Methods: We analysed motion perception with numbers-from-motion (NFM), visual acuity, (multifocal (mf)) VEP, optical coherence tomography in patients with MS (n = 38, confirmatory cohort n = 43), NMOSD (n = 13) and healthy controls (n = 33).

Results: NFM was lower compared with controls in MS (B = -12.37, p < 0.001) and NMOSD (B = -34.5, p < 0.001). NFM was lower in ON than in non-ON eyes (B = -30.95, p = 0.041) in NMOSD, but not MS. In MS and NMOSD, lower NFM was associated with worse visual acuity (B = -139.4, p < 0.001/B = -77.2, p < 0.001) and low contrast letter acuity (B = 0.99, p = 0.002/B = 1.6, p < 0.001), thinner peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (B = 1.0, p < 0.001/ B = 0.92, p = 0.016) and ganglion cell/inner plexiform layer (B = 64.8, p < 0.001/B = 79.5, p = 0.006), but not with VEP P100 latencies. In the confirmatory MS cohort, lower NFM was associated with thinner retinal nerve fibre layer (B = 1.351, p < 0.001) and increased mfVEP P100 latencies (B = -1.159, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Structural neuro-axonal visual pathway damage is an important driver of motion perception impairment in MS and NMOSD.

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis; motion perception; neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders; optical coherence tomography; retina; vision disorders; visual evoked potentials.

MeSH terms

Humans
Motion Perception*
Multiple Sclerosis*
Neuromyelitis Optica*
Optic Neuritis*
Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods
Visual Pathways / diagnostic imaging