Change in thalamic cerebrospinal fluid fraction over the adult lifespan and correlation with TSPO PET imaging in multiple sclerosis patients

We applied FAST-T2 multi-component T2 relaxometry to 200 MS patients and 66 healthy controls and found that the thalamic cerebrospinal fluid fraction (CSFF) increases with age and follows a different trajectory in MS. In 13 MS patients, we also found a strong correlation between CSFF and [11C]PK11195 uptake on PET in the thalamus and putamen, suggesting a connection between glymphatic dysfunction and microglial inflammation in the MS brain.