Awesome Alternative MS Research

Awesome Research on Alpha Lipoic Acid and Niacin and MS.

Lipoic acid in multiple sclerosis: a pilot study.

Multiple Sclerosis. 2005 Apr;11(2):159-65. Yadav V, Marracci G, Lovera J, Woodward W, Bogardus K, Marquardt W, Shinto L, Morris C, Bourdette D. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, OR

Alpha Lipoic acid is an antioxidant that suppresses and treats an animal model of multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmacokinetics (PK), tolerability and effects on matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAMP-1) of oral Alpha Lipoic acid in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Thirty-seven multiple sclerosis subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups:

  1. Placebo
  2. Alpha Lipoic acid 600 mg twice a day
  3. Alpha Lipoic acid 1200 mg once a day
  4. Alpha Lipoic acid 1200 mg twice a day

Subjects took study capsules for 14 days.

We found that subjects taking 1200 mg Alpha Lipoic acid had substantially higher peak serum Alpha Lipoic acid levels than those taking 600 mg, and that peak levels varied considerably among subjects. We also found a significant negative correlation between peak serum Alpha Lipoic acid levels and mean changes in serum MMP-9 levels. There was a significant dose response relationship between Alpha Lipoic acid and mean change in serum sICAM-1 levels.

We conclude that oral Alpha Lipoic acid is generally well tolerated and appears capable of reducing serum MMP-9 and sICAM-1 levels. Alpha Lipoic acid may prove useful in treating multiple sclerosis by inhibiting MMP-9 activity and interfering with T-cell migration into the CNS.

Nicotinamide and Multiple Sclerosis
The Journal of Neuroscience, September 20, 2006.

Nicotinamide has shown considerable therapeutic potential by increasing concentrations in the nervous system of the vital compound NAD in a mouse study model of multiple sclerosis. Nicotinamide is a water-soluble vitamin and is part of the vitamin B group. Collectively, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide are called niacin. In the cells, niacin is incorporated into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP), although the pathways for nicotinamide and nicotinic acid are very similar. NAD+ and NADP+ are coenzymes in a wide variety of enzymatic oxidation-reduction reactions.

In mice with the MS-like disease EAE, nicotinamide treatment profoundly prevented the degeneration of axons already showing signs of degeneration. Daily injections of nicotinamide in the EAE mice also prevented inflammation of the axons and loss of myelin - the underlying problem in MS - and delayed the onset and severity of disability.

Nicotinamide had beneficial effects on the mice even when treatment was delayed 10 days after the induction of EAE when most of the rodents had already developed clear signs of neurological disability. This leads researchers to believe that nicotinamide may have an impact at later stages of multiple sclerosis.


Posted May 2008 | Permanent Link

Other Articles In The June Issue

Other Articles In This Category

Dr. Hull's Message Board Forum

Healthy Newsletter Archive