Role of Multifocal Visually Evoked Potential as a Biomarker of Demyelination, Spontaneous Remyelination, and Myelin Repair in Multiple Sclerosis

Alexandr Klistorner; Stuart L Graham

doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.725187

Role of Multifocal Visually Evoked Potential as a Biomarker of Demyelination, Spontaneous Remyelination, and Myelin Repair in Multiple Sclerosis

Front Neurosci. 2021 Oct 29:15:725187. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.725187. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Alexandr Klistorner^{1

2}, Stuart L Graham²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW, Australia.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease of the central nervous system (CNS), characterized by inflammation, demyelination, neuro-axonal loss, and gliosis. Inflammatory demyelinating lesions are a hallmark of the disease. Spontaneous remyelination, however, is often incomplete and strategies that promote remyelination are needed. As a result, accurate and sensitive in vivo measures of remyelination are necessary. The visual pathway provides a unique opportunity for in vivo assessment of myelin damage and repair in the MS-affected brain since it is highly susceptible to damage in MS and is a very frequent site of MS lesions. The visually evoked potential (VEP), an event-related potential generated by the striate cortex in response to visual stimulation, is uniquely placed to serve as a biomarker of the myelination along the visual pathway. The multifocal VEP (mfVEP) represents a most recent addition to the array of VEP stimulations. This article provides a current view on the role of mfVEP as a biomarker of demyelination, spontaneous remyelination, and myelin repair in MS.

Keywords: clinical trial; demyelination; multiple sclerosis; remyelination; visual evoked cortical potentials.

Publication types

Review