Brain

The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. The brain is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision.The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system (CNS).

The brain and spinal cord have their own immune system. Microglia cells are a part of that immune system.

The brain also has its own lymphatic system which links directly to the peripheral immune system.

Injury to the brain or spinal cord, such as those caused by stroke or trauma, result in a considerable weakening of the immune system.

ME/CFS
Main article: Neurology of ME/CFS Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: Encephalo refers to the brain.

A study of cerebral glucose metabolism in 26 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome via 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) found abnormalities in approximately half of patients.

Chronic fatigue syndrome

 * 2016, 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.


 * 2017, A 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"

Notable studies

 * 2014, Brains of People With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Offer Clues About Disorder - New York Times: Well (2014)
 * 2016, Relative increase in choline in the occipital cortex in chronic fatigue syndrome
 * 2017, CNS findings in chronic fatigue syndrome and a neuropathological case report
 * 2017, Grey and white matter differences in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – A voxel-based morphometry study
 * 2018, Structural brain changes versus self-report: machine-learning classification of chronic fatigue syndrome patients (Abstract)
 * 2018, Cortical hypoactivation during resting EEG suggests central nervous system pathology in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (Abstract)
 * 2018, Brain function characteristics of chronic fatigue syndrome: A task fMRI study (Full Text)




 * 2018, Neuroinflammation in the Brain of Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
 * 2018, Hyperintense sensorimotor T1 spin echo MRI is associated with brainstem abnormality in chronic fatigue syndrome (Full Text)
 * 2018, Brain abnormalities in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: Evaluation by diffusional kurtosis imaging and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (Abstract)

Learn more

 * Neuroquant Triage Brain Atrophy Report (MRI) - Provides physicians a quick reference and in-depth look on regional and global brain structure volumes, which could occur as a result of a brain injury or in neurodegenerative disease, by providing volume measurements of 44 brain structures for both the right and left hemisphere, total structure  – all sorted by lobe and region. With a detailed table of intracranial volume and right, left and total values for normative percentile of ICV. Resulting values are automatically compared to gender and age-appropriate reference distribution.
 * 2-Minute Neuroscience: Lobes and Landmarks of the Brain Surface (Lateral View)