Brain

Chronic fatigue syndrome
One six year longitudinal MRI study found that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (per Fukuda & Canadian Consensus Criteria) is associated with decreases in white matter, gray matter and blood volume deficits in the brain as compared to healthy controls.

A 2017 study by Natelson, et al, showed that:
 * patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have higher brain ventricular lactate, more abnormal spinal fluids, lower brain glutathione, and reduced cerebral blood flow than controls,
 * psychiatric comorbidity does not influence any of these potential biological markers of CFS,
 * 50% of the patients had more than one of these abnormalities, and
 * a subgroup of CFS patients with brain abnormalities may have an underlying encephalopathy producing their illness.

Microglia
Microglia


 * "Microglia in Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome", About Health, 22 Feb 2016.

Notable studies

 * 2017, CNS findings in chronic fatigue syndrome and a neuropathological case report"'Abstract - Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized as a persistent, debilitating complex disorder of unknown etiology, whereby patients suffer from extreme fatigue, which often presents with symptoms that include chronic pain, depression, weakness, mood disturbances, and neuropsychological impairment. In this mini review and case report, we address central nervous system (CNS) involvement of CFS and present neuropathological autopsy findings from a patient who died with a prior diagnosis of CFS. Among the most remarkable pathological features of the case are focal areas of white matter loss, neurite beading, and neuritic pathology of axons in the white matter with axonal spheroids. Atypical neurons displaying aberrant sprouting processes in response to injury are observed throughout cortical gray and white matter. Abundant amyloid deposits identical to AD plaques with accompanying intracellular granular structures are observed as well. Neurofibrillary tangles are also present in the white matter of the frontal cortex, thalamus and basal ganglia. Taken together, these neuropathological findings warrant further studies into CNS disease associated with CFS.'"
 * 2016, Relative increase in choline in the occipital cortex in chronic fatigue syndrome"'Abstract - OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is associated with altered cerebral metabolites in the frontal and occipital cortices. METHOD: Cerebral proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) was carried out in eight CFS patients and eight age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. Spectra were obtained from 20 x 20 x 20 mm3 voxels in the dominant motor and occipital cortices using a point-resolved spectroscopy pulse sequence. RESULTS: The mean ratio of choline (Cho) to creatine (Cr) in the occipital cortex in CFS (0.97) was significantly higher than in the controls (0.76; P=0.008). No other metabolite ratios were significantly different between the two groups in either the frontal or occipital cortex. In addition, there was a loss of the normal spatial variation of Cho in CFS. CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that there may be an abnormality of phospholipid metabolism in the brain in CFS.'"