ArticleHuman brain mapping2021
Decreasing brain iron in multiple sclerosis: The difference between concentration and content in iron MRI.
Article in Human brain mapping, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Values Quantification in Deep Gray Matter Structures for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Brain and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- Quantitative susceptibility mapping in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2024Pooled it
- Brain oxygen extraction fraction mapping in patients with multiple sclerosis.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2022Trial
- Comparison of iron and myelin changes in U‑fiber regions of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Article
- Quantitative susceptibility mapping reveals differences between subtypes of Lewy body dementia.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Heterogeneous Deep Gray Matter Iron Deposition Patterns across Multiple Sclerosis Subgroups Defined by the Clinico-Radiological Paradox.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026Article
- Epstein-Barr virus infection and vitamin D deficiency are both "causal" for multiple sclerosis (MS) - could the common denominator be their effects on hepcidin levels?Metabolic brain disease · 2025Review
- Inflammation alters myeloid cell and oligodendroglial iron-handling in multiple sclerosis.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2025Article
- Conventional and Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers of Multiple Sclerosis in the Brain.Cureus · 2025Review
- Thalamic iron in multiple sclerosis: Waning support for the early-rise late-decline hypothesis.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2025Article
- Impact of processing and analysis methodology on thalamic susceptibility assessment in multiple sclerosis.PloS one · 2025Article
- IRONMAP: Iron network mapping and analysis protocol for detecting over-time brain iron abnormalities in neurological disease.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Association between paramagnetic rim lesions and pulvinar iron depletion in persons with multiple sclerosis.Multiple sclerosis and related disorders · 2025Article
- Automated Quantitative Susceptibility and Morphometry MR Study: Feasibility and Interrelation Between Clinical Score, Lesion Load, Deep Grey Matter and Normal-Appearing White Matter in Multiple Sclerosis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Decoding Gray Matter Involvement in Multiple Sclerosis via Imaging.Neuroimaging clinics of North America · 2024Review
- Cerebrospinal Fluid-In Gradient of Cortical and Deep Gray Matter Damage in Multiple Sclerosis.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2024Article
- U-fiber diffusion kurtosis and susceptibility characteristics in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis may be related to cognitive deficits and neurodegeneration.European radiology · 2024Article
- Iron metabolism disorder and multiple sclerosis: a comprehensive analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Increased brain iron concentration is often reported concurrently with disease development in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is unclear whether the higher iron concentration in patients stems from an influx of iron into the tissue or a relative reduction in tissue compartments without much iron. By taking into account structural volume, we investigated tissue iron content in the deep gray matter (DGM) over 2 years, and compared findings to previously reported changes in iron concentration. 120 MS patients and 40 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. Clinical testing and MRI were performed both at baseline and after 2 years. Overall, iron content was calculated from structural MRI and quantitative susceptibility mapping in the thalamus, caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus. MS patients had significantly lower iron content than controls in the thalamus, with progressive MS patients demonstrating lower iron content than relapsing-remitting patients. Over 2 years, iron content decreased in the DGM of patients with MS, while it tended to increase or remain stable among controls. In the thalamus, decreasing iron content over 2 years was associated with disability progression. Our study showed that temporally increasing magnetic susceptibility in MS should not be considered as evidence for iron influx because it may be explained, at least partially, by disease-related atrophy. Declining DGM iron content suggests that, contrary to the current understanding, iron is being removed from the DGM in patients with MS.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.