White Matter Injury in Central Nervous System Disorders

Abstract

As the aging process accelerates and living conditions improve, central nervous system (CNS) diseases have become a major public health problem. Diseases of the CNS cause not only gray matter damage, which is primarily characterized by the loss of neurons, but also white matter damage. However, most previous studies have focused on grey matter injury (GMI), with fewer studies on white matter injury (WMI). In this article, we will briefly describe the structure and function of white matter, summarize the pathological changes of WMI, and focus on the molecular mechanisms and therapeutic research advances in WMI after ischemic stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis diseases.

Keywords: central nervous system; myelin; oligodendrocytes; white matter injury.