September 22, 2006
Niacinamide could protect MS patients
The September 20, 2006 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience published the finding of researchers at Children's Hospital Boston that a form of vitamin B3 known as nicotinamide or niacinamide may help protect against nerve damage that occurs in the chronic progressive phase of multiple sclerosis, which is the phase in which most serious disabilities develop and for which there has not yet been found an effective treatment. The vitamin acts as a precursor to nicotinamide adenine dinucelotide (NAD) a compound used by the cells in the production of energy from carbohydrates.
For the current study, research fellow Shinjiro Kaneko, MD and colleagues used mice with experimental autoimmune encephalitis, which is similar to multiple sclerosis in humans. They found that giving daily subcutaneous nicotinamide injections delayed the onset and severity of neurologic disability compared to control animals. Higher doses of the vitamin were associated with a greater benefit.
The treatment protected nerve fibers called axons from inflammation and loss of their myelin covering. The vitamin even helped prevent the further degradation of fibers that had already lost their protective myelin sheath, and was found to be effective when administered after the induction of experimental autoimmune encephalitis, although early administration was more beneficial.
The team discovered that nicotinamide works by increasing NAD in the spinal cord. While mice with the greatest neurologic deficits were found to have the lowest spinal cord levels of NAD, those with the least deficits had the highest levels. Giving NAD directly to the animals also prevented axon degeneration.
"We hope that our work will initiate a clinical trial, and that nicotinamide could be used in real patients," Dr Kaneko stated. "In the early phase of MS, anti-inflammatory drugs may work, but long-term you need to protect against axonal damage."