Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026
08:51
Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Multiple Sclerosis at 7.0 Tesla
Published on: February 19, 2021
9.7K
Multiple sclerosis : A multielement survey
N I Ward1, D Bryce-Smith, M Minski
1Chemistry Department, University of Reading, Whiteknights, RG6 2AD, Reading, Berkshire, UK.
Biological Trace Element Research
|November 22, 2013
Summary
Multiple sclerosis patients showed significantly lower vanadium and higher barium levels in hair and blood compared to controls. These elemental differences may offer new insights into multiple sclerosis (MS) etiology.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Biochemistry
- Neurology
Background:
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease with complex, incompletely understood etiology.
- Elemental imbalances in the body have been investigated as potential contributing factors in various diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate differences in elemental composition between multiple sclerosis patients and healthy controls.
- To identify specific elements that may be associated with multiple sclerosis.
Main Methods:
- Elemental analysis of 35 elements in whole blood and ultrasonically washed scalp hair.
- Comparison of elemental levels between MS patients and matched control subjects from Oxford, England.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in elemental levels were observed between patients and controls.
- Most marked differences included lower vanadium and higher barium levels in MS patients.
- Hair and blood lead levels were similar in both groups.
Conclusions:
- Low hair-vanadium and high hair-barium levels are consistently associated with multiple sclerosis.
- The etiological significance of these elemental differences requires further investigation.
- Findings on vanadium align with previous Canadian research on MS patients.
