Dietary supplement may be helpful in multiple sclerosis
Aging seniors who want to maintain their joint health may be interested in cheap over the counter medications and supplements from Canada, such as glucosamine.
Aging seniors who want to maintain their joint health may be interested in cheap over the counter medications and supplements from Canada, such as glucosamine. Another form of this substance, N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), is of current interest to researchers at the University of California, Irvine, who discovered that GlcNAc may become useful in the future to patients who have multiple sclerosis (MS).
MS is a neurological disease in which the myelin that insulates nerve cells and helps nerve messages travel faster begins to break down, gradually leading to muscle weakness and cognitive problems, according to the National Institutes of Health. It is thought that MS may be an autoimmune disorder, in which cells in the immune system go rogue and attack the body.
Previous studies show that white blood cells known as T-cells may become hyperactive if sugars on the cell surfaces become modified. Because GlcNAc is a complex sugar molecule, a research team wanted to investigate its effects on mouse models of MS. Mice that were fed GlcNAc experienced improvement in their symptoms, possibly because the substance altered the sugars on the cell surfaces of hyperactive T-cells.
This experiment adds to a growing body of research suggesting GlcNAc may be able to treat a number of autoimmune disorders. Further research will be needed to verify its effects in humans with MS.
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