Spinal fluid abnormalities in patients with ME/CFS

Spinal fluid abnormalities in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

  @ PubMed:

  Natelson BH 1, Weaver SA , Tseng CL , Ottenweller JE . Spinal fluid abnormalities in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol.  2005 Jan;12(1):52-5.

  Abstract

  Arguments exist as to the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Some think that it is an example of symptom amplification indicative of functional or psychogenic illness, while our group thinks that some CFS patients may have brain dysfunction. To further pursue our encephalopathy hypothesis, we did spinal taps on 31 women and 13 men fulfilling the 1994 case definition for CFS and on 8 women and 5 men serving as healthy controls.

  Our outcome measures were white blood cell count, protein concentration in spinal fluid, and cytokines detectable in spinal fluid. We found that significantly more CFS patients had elevations in either protein levels or number of cells than healthy controls (30 versus 0%), and 13 CFS patients had protein levels and cell numbers that were higher than laboratory norms; patients with abnormal fluid had a lower rate of having comorbid depression than those with normal fluid.

  In addition, of the 11 cytokines detectable in spinal fluid, (i) levels of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor were lower in patients than controls, (ii) levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) were higher in patients with sudden, influenza-like onset than in patients with gradual onset or in controls, and (iii) IL-10 levels were higher in the patients with abnormal spinal fluids than in those with normal fluid or controls.

  The results support two hypotheses: that some CFS patients have a neurological abnormality that may contribute to the clinical picture of the illness and that immune dysregulation within the central nervous system may be involved in this process.

Neuromuscular Strain causes symptom flare-ups in ME/CFS

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Neuromuscular Strain Increases Symptom Intensity in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Peter C. Rowe , Kevin R. Fontaine , Megan Lauver , Samantha E. Jasion , Colleen L. Marden , Malini Moni , Carol B. Thompson ,Richard L. Violand

 * Abstract* Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex, multisystem disorder that can be disabling. CFS symptoms can be provoked by increased physical or cognitive activity, and by orthostatic stress. In preliminary work, we noted that CFS symptoms also could be provoked by application of longitudinal neural and soft tissue strain to the limbs and spine of affected individuals. In this study we measured the responses to a straight leg raise neuromuscular strain maneuver in individuals with CFS and healthy controls. We randomly assigned 60 individuals with CFS and 20 healthy controls to either a 15 minute period of passive supine straight leg raise (true neuromuscular strain) or a sham straight leg raise. The primary outcome measure was the symptom intensity difference between the scores during and 24 hours after the study maneuver compared to baseline. Fatigue, body pain, lightheadedness, concentration difficulties, and headache scores were measured individually on a 0–10 scale, and summed to create a composite symptom score. Compared to individuals with CFS in the sham strain group, those with CFS in the true strain group reported significantly increased body pain (P = 0.04) and concentration difficulties (P = 0.02) as well as increased composite symptom scores (all P = 0.03) during the maneuver. After 24 hours, the symptom intensity differences were significantly greater for the CFS true strain group for the individual symptom of lightheadedness (P = 0.001) and for the composite symptom score (P = 0.005). During and 24 hours after the exposure to the true strain maneuver, those with CFS had significantly higher individual and composite symptom intensity changes compared to the healthy controls.

We conclude that a longitudinal strain applied to the nerves and soft tissues of the lower limb is capable of increasing symptom intensity in individuals with CFS for up to 24 hours.

These findings support our preliminary observations that increased mechanical sensitivity may be a contributor to the provocation of symptoms in this disorder.

Citation: Rowe PC, Fontaine KR, Lauver M, Jasion SE, Marden CL, Moni M, et al. (2016) Neuromuscular Strain Increases Symptom Intensity in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. PLoS ONE 11(7): e0159386. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159386

Editor: Ute Vollmer-Conna, University of New South Wales, AUSTRALIA

Received: March 17, 2016; Accepted: July 3, 2016; Published: July 18, 2016

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