12.27.2013
Lab Notes: Antioxidant Has Promise in MS
An antioxidant to protect mitochondrial function stopped an MS-like syndrome in mice, researchers found. Also this week: getting closer to an insulin pill and a new approach to flu treatment.
Antioxidant Protects Nerves in MS
A commercially available antioxidant that targets mitochondria, MitoQ, may provide neuroprotection against the central nervous system ravages of multiple sclerosis, a mouse study suggested.
Mitochondrial dysfunction and the accumulation of reactive oxygen species have been implicated in the axonal damage of MS, so a group of researchers from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland led by P. Hemachandra Reddy, PhD, administered MitoQ (mitochondrial CoQ10) to mice with experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a common model for MS. Clinical and behavioral symptoms were both delayed and attenuated in the treated animals, whereas neurologic disabilities including limb paralysis developed within 2 weeks in untreated controls.
Further analyses revealed that MitoQ treatment reduced inflammation in the central nervous system and spine and helped preserve neurons against demyelination and the cytotoxic events that can ensue. These findings support MitoQ as a “promising neuroprotective treatment for patients with MS,” the researchers wrote in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta.
— Nancy Walsh