Serum Glutamate Is a Predictor for the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

One neurotransmitter, glutamate, has been implicated in the autoimmune demyelination seen in multiple sclerosis (MS). Glutamate is present in many tissues in the body, so consideration should be given to whether the serum level of glutamate is likely well correlated with the activity of the disease. This research aimed to compare the serum glutamate levels from patients diagnosed with MS with those from an age-matched control population. A review of this data could shed light upon whether the serum testing of glutamate using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) is a reliable indicator of MS activity. Serum samples were obtained from 55 patients with different patterns of MS and from 25 healthy adults as a control group. The ELISA technique was used to determine the glutamate levels in the serum samples. The mean serum glutamate level for patients with MS was 1.318 ± 0.543 nmol/ml and that of the controls was 0.873 ± 0.341 nmol/ml. The serum glutamate levels showed an area under the curve via the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) of 0.738, which was significant (p value = 0.001). The present study is the first to establish a strong connection between the serum glutamate levels and MS patients, where there was statistically significant elevation of serum glutamate in MS patients; hence this elevation might be used as a monitor to help in the diagnosis of MS patients.

Nonionotropic Action of Endothelial NMDA Receptors on Blood–Brain Barrier Permeability via Rho/ROCK-Mediated Phosphorylation of Myosin

“…Normal glycinemia stands ϳ250 M (20 mg/L), which is compatible with the concentrations shown here to activate NMDAR signaling in the presence of tPA. Blood glutamate concentration, however, stands ϳ1 M. Even though this concentration has recently been shown to be slightly increased in MS patients (Al Gawwam and Sharquie, 2017), it is much inferior to the range of concentration shown in the present work to activate NMDAR signaling in the presence of tPA. However, endothelial NMDAR activation is more likely to occur via the local release of glutamate by blood cells at the early stages of transmigration rather than via a global increase in concentration of its ligands in the blood.…”

Integrated Lipidomics and Metabolomics Analysis of Tears in Multiple Sclerosis: An Insight into Diagnostic Potential of Lacrimal Fluid

“…Interestingly, Ser levels in serum show the same trend as in tears, in accordance with its involvement in MuS inflammatory pathways. Moreover, in agreement with literature, high serum levels of Glu were found in patients, confirming its implication in neurotoxic events which occur in MuS disease [37,38,39].…”

Empirical Mode Decomposition-Based Filter Applied to Multifocal Electroretinograms in Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis

“…An imbalance in glutamate receptor levels and expression can also occur in earlier stages or even when no damage is observed in white matter with MRI. High levels of glutamate have been found in serum and white and grey matter [59,60]. On the other hand, neurodegenerative diseases, such as MS, may not affect all cell types equally, making studying types rather than individual neurons more appropriate.…”