OBJECTIVES To evaluate the diagnostic utility and clinical characteristics of painful tonic spasm (PTS) in neuromyelitis optica (NMO). DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Two referral hospitals. PATIENTS Forty patients who had NMO spectrum disorder with anti-aquaporin 4 autoantibody or met the revised diagnostic criteria for definite NMO; 35 patients with multiple sclerosis; and 41 patien...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a devastating neurologic disease characterized by severe optic neuritis and transverse myelitis. Recently, its disease-specific serum autoantibody, NMO-IgG, was discovered with indirect immunofluorescence. However, the substrates of the immunofluorescence assay were not human but mouse brain tissues, which could influence the sensitivity and specificity of the anti...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the CNS and affects women of childbearing age. Most patients with NMO have circulating Abs, termed NMO-IgG, against the astrocytic water channel protein aquaporin-4. In the CNS, NMO-IgG causes complement-mediated astrocyte damage, inflammatory cell infiltration, and myelin loss. In this study, we show that aquaporin-4 is exp...

Eosinophils are abundant in inflammatory demyelinating lesions in neuromyelitis optica (NMO). We used cell culture, ex vivo spinal cord slices, and in vivo mouse models of NMO to investigate the role of eosinophils in NMO pathogenesis and the therapeutic potential of eosinophil inhibitors. Eosinophils cultured from mouse bone marrow produced antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) ...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the clinical, neuroimaging characteristics and positivity of the acquaporin water channel (NMO-IgG) in pediatric patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO). This disorder could have a variable clinical expression. To address such variability, the term NMO spectrum has been suggested. METHOD We evaluated six pediatric patients, with a median age of 11 years at the time of th...

BACKGROUND Recent reports support a pathogenic role in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) for the aquaporin-4 (AQP4)-specific autoantibody (NMO-IgG). Neuromyelitis optica is an inflammatory demyelinating central nervous system disease, usually relapsing, that causes variable degrees of attack-related disability. The NMO-IgG binds in vitro to the extracellular domain of AQP4, activates complement, and c...

UNLABELLED The aim of the present research was to investigate cognitive pattern of patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and to compare it with multiple sclerosis (MS) patients' performance. METHODS Fourteen NMO, 14 relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), and 14 healthy control patients participated in the investigation. Neuropsychological functions were evaluated with the Brief Rep...

OBJECTIVE Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Circulating autoantibodies (NMO-immunoglobulin [Ig]G) against astrocyte water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4) cause complement- and cell-mediated astrocyte damage with consequent neuroinflammation and demyelination. Current NMO therapies, which have limited efficacy, include immunosuppression...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a recurrent inflammatory disease that preferentially targets the optic nerves and spinal cord leading to blindness and paralysis. The hallmarks of NMO include bilateral optic neuritis and longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis. Woman and African Americans are overrepresented in the US patient population. NMO is associated with the NMO-IgG biomarker, which tar...

The syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is a potential cause of hyponatremia of the central nervous system (CNS). Although SIADH has been reported to be associated with many other central nervous disorders, its association with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) or NMO spectrum disorders are rare. NMO is a demyelinating disorder characterized by optic neuritis and transvers...