MS has cycles of remission and relapses with remission occurring less frequently as the disease progresses. Lesions occur in all parts of the CNS white matter appearing gray and translucent. Some of the more prominent structures affected are the medial longitudinal fasciculus and the optic tract and chiasm. Onset of the disease is usually between the ages of 20 and 40 years of age. Many times there is a cuffing of blood vessels due to the high number of lymphocytes, macrophages and plasma cells found in plaques.
Macrophages take a principal role in stripping and phagocytosis of myelin from intact axons.
Efforts to link this autoimmune disease with a virus have been unsuccessful perhaps do to the difficulty of isolating and culturing virus from MS patients. For more information concerning MS please visit the web-site below.