Sodium Accumulation in Multiple sclerosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
In vivo quantification of tissue sodium (23Na) content in the brain and spinal cord in Multiple Sclerosis
IRAS ID
150096
Contact name
Bhavana S Solanky
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Research summary
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neurological disorder in young adults. It has been shown that levels of total sodium correlate to disability and disease progression in MS patients. Recently, we have successfully investigated for the first time the possibility of measuring total sodium content in the spinal cord using MRS, this encompasses our first objective, which is applying this to MS patients to measure sodium alterations in this key area and correlate this with disability.
Our second objective is to determine the intracellular sodium using MRI and MRS, as the total sodium measured is the weighted average of intra and extra cellular sodium, this will enable us to find in which compartment the sodium accumulation is occurring in. This is an exciting development given the key role of sodium channels in understanding mechanisms of MS.REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NE/1006
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion