• Neurology Clinical Trials
• Demyelinating Diseases

Uric acid (UA) is an endogenous antioxidant [Guerrero AL et al. Neurol Sci 2011], a natural scavenger of peroxynitrite [Liu B et al. Neurol Res 2012]. Recent studies have found that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have lower serum UA levels than controls [Liu B et al. Neurol Res 2012].

Guerrero et al. demonstrated an association between lower UA levels in MS patients and clinical relapse. They also found an inverse correlation between lower serum UA levels and disability assessed by Expanded Diability Status Scale score [Guerrero AL et al. Neurol Sci 2011]. F. Esfandiari, Neurology Research Institute, Kerma, Iran, presented a poster from a study evaluating levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum UA in MS patients compared with a control group.

A total of 50 patients (30 with MS and 20 with noninflammatory neurological disease [NIND]) participated in the study. Controls were matched for age and sex. Descriptive statistics were presented as mean percentage ± SD. The t-test was used to assess whether the means of the two groups were statistically different from each other. The authors performed all analyses using SPSS 17 (IBM, Armonk, New York, USA).

Results showed that the mean CSF UA in MS patients was 0.19 mg/dL (SD=0.12) versus 0.24 mg/dL (SD=0.189). Mean serum UA in MS patients was 3.95 mg/dL (SD=1.24) versus 4.04 mg/dL (SD=1.36) in the control group. In both groups, the relationship between CSF and UA was not significant (p=0.30). In addition, there was no significant difference between serum UA in the MS and the control group (p=0.83).

This study found no significant difference in CSF and serum UA between patients with MS and those in the control group. Future research is needed to determine the role of UA in the pathology and/or treatment of MS.

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