A drug used in over-the-counter cough medicine may treat symptoms of multiple sclerosis -- offering inexpensive therapy for a disease with few treatment options, according to UC Davis researchers.
In tests using mice, the drug, dextromethorphan, was found to significantly reduce the loss of myelin, the fatty sheath surrounding nerve fibers in the central nervous system. It also minimized the development of paralysis during MS attacks.
The finding provides an opportunity to pursue a new treatment strategy "with a drug that is widely available, inexpensive and known to be safe," said Wenbin Deng, principal investigator of the study and a UC Davis assistant professor.
MS affects about 400,000 people in the United States. It is caused by cells of the immune system attacking the myelin.
Symptoms of the disease vary and often involve periods of motor problems, including paralysis of a limb or poor coordination. It may either go away or become permanent.
As the disease progresses, it causes increased disability and has no known cure, according to a UC Davis Health System press release.
Researchers induced mice to have moderate or severe MS and treated them with either very low or high doses of dextromethorphan. Investigators found that very low amounts given to mice with moderate disease signficantly reduced the loss of myelin and the development of paralysis during acute attacks. High doses didn't help at all.
"Finding that a chemical like dextromethorphan might be useful for treating multiple sclerosis is especially significant because we already know it is safe," said David E. Pleasure, director of research at the Institute for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine at Shriners Hospitals for Children Northern California in Sacramento and one of the authors of the study. "Normally, a possible new treatment must first undergo years of clinical trials to prove this."
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
• Read more articles by Bill Lindelof
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.