Is multiple sclerosis a mitochondrial disease?

Peizhong Mao (1) , P. Hemachandra Reddy (1, 2)

1 Neuroscience Division
2 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a relatively common and etiologically unknown disease with no cure treatment. It is the leading cause of neurological disability in young adults, affecting over two million people worldwide. Traditionally, MS has been considered a chronic, inflammatory disorder of the central white matter in which ensuing demyelination results in physical disability. Recently, MS has become increasingly viewed as a neurodegenerative disorder in which axonal injury, neuronal loss, and atrophy of the central nervous system lead to permanent neurological and clinical disability. In this article, we discuss the latest developments on MS research, including etiology, pathology, genetic association, EAE animal models, mechanisms of neuronal injury and axonal transport and therapeutics. In this article, we also focus on the mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction that are involved in MS, including mitochondrial DNA defects, and mitochondrial structural/functional changes.

Mots clés: Multiple sclerosis; Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; Mitochondria; Oxidative stress; Myelin; Neuroprotection; NO; Gender difference

Peizhong Mao, P. Hemachandra Reddy. Is multiple sclerosis a mitochondrial disease?. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Basis of Disease, 2009, 1802 (1), pp.66. ⟨10.1016/j.bbadis.2009.07.002⟩. ⟨hal-00562915⟩