Increased ventricular lactate in chronic fatigue syndrome. III.
Relationships to cortical glutathione and clinical symptoms implicate
oxidative stress in disorder pathophysiology.
Shungu DC, Weiduschat N, Murrough JW, Mao X, Pillemer S, Dyke JP,
Medow MS, Natelson BH, Stewart JM, Mathew SJ.
Department of Radiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University,
New York, NY, USA. dcs7001@med.cornell.edu.
Abstract
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex illness, which is often
misdiagnosed as a psychiatric illness.
In two previous reports, using (1) H MRSI, we found significantly
higher levels of ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate in
patients with CFS relative to those with generalized anxiety disorder
and healthy volunteers (HV), but not relative to those with major
depressive disorder (MDD).
In this third independent cross-sectional neuroimaging study, we
investigated a pathophysiological model which postulated that
elevations of CSF lactate in patients with CFS might be caused by
increased oxidative stress, cerebral hypoperfusion and/or secondary
mitochondrial dysfunction.
Fifteen patients with CFS, 15 with MDD and 13 HVs were studied using
the following modalities: (i) (1) H MRSI to measure CSF lactate; (ii)
single-voxel (1) H MRS to measure levels of cortical glutathione (GSH)
as a marker of antioxidant capacity; (iii) arterial spin labeling
(ASL) MRI to measure regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF); and (iv)
(31) P MRSI to measure brain high-energy phosphates as objective
indices of mitochondrial dysfunction.
We found elevated ventricular lactate and decreased GSH in patients
with CFS and MDD relative to HVs. GSH did not differ significantly
between the two patient groups.
In addition, we found lower rCBF in the left anterior cingulate cortex
and the right lingual gyrus in patients with CFS relative to HVs, but
rCBF did not differ between those with CFS and MDD. We found no
differences between the three groups in terms of any high-energy
phosphate metabolites.
In exploratory correlation analyses, we found that levels of
ventricular lactate and cortical GSH were inversely correlated, and
significantly associated with several key indices of physical health
and disability.
Collectively, the results of this third independent study support a
pathophysiological model of CFS in which increased oxidative stress
may play a key role in CFS etiopathophysiology.
Copyright =A9 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The two studies previously done can be found here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20661876
and here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18942064
---------------------------------------------
Send posts to CO-CURE@listserv.nodak.edu
Unsubscribe at http://www.co-cure.org/unsub.htm
Too much mail? Try a digest version. See http://www.co-cure.org/digest.htm
---------------------------------------------
Co-Cure's purpose is to provide information from across the spectrum of
opinion concerning medical, research and political aspects of ME/CFS and/or
FMS. We take no position on the validity of any specific scientific or
political opinion expressed in Co-Cure posts, and we urge readers to
research the various opinions available before assuming any one
interpretation is definitive. The Co-Cure website <www.co-cure.org> has a
link to our complete archive of posts as well as articles of central
importance to the issues of our community.
---------------------------------------------
