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Iron accumulation in the basal ganglia was found in patients with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), but not in patients with a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) that is suggestive of MS, Austrian researchers reported.

In this quantitative study, 113 MS and CIS patients, as well as 35 healthy controls, underwent 3T MRI imaging, which showed increased levels of brain iron in MS patients compared with CIS patients (P<0.001) and healthy controls (P<0.005), wrote Franz Fazekas, MD, of the Medical University of Graz, and colleagues in Neurology.

MRI-based iron mapping has been proposed as a marker of neurodegeneration in various neurologic disorders, including MS, explained Alex Rovira, MD, from the Hospital Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, in an accompanying editorial. "Iron is an essential trace element with a vital role in normal brain metabolism, oxygen transport, myelin production, and neurotransmitter synthesis, and in reactions critical to oxidative stress," he wrote.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/3253

ms patients tend to have low zinc, too

Zinc Deficiency-induced Iron Accumulation, a Consequence of Alterations in Iron Regulatory Protein-binding Activity, Iron Transporters, and Iron Storage Proteins*
http://www.jbc.org/content/283/8/5168.full
"One consequence of zinc deficiency is an elevation in cell and tissue iron concentrations. To examine the mechanism(s) underlying this phenomenon, Swiss 3T3 cells were cultured in zinc-deficient (D, 0.5 μm zinc), zinc-supplemented (S, 50 μm zinc), or control (C, 4 μm zinc) media. After 24 h of culture, cells in the D group were characterized by a 50% decrease in intracellular zinc and a 35% increase in intracellular iron relative to cells in the S and C groups. The increase in cellular iron was associated with increased transferrin receptor 1 protein and mRNA levels and increased ferritin light chain expression. The divalent metal transporter 1(+)iron-responsive element isoform mRNA was decreased during zinc deficiency-induced iron accumulation. Examination of zinc-deficient cells revealed increased binding of iron regulatory protein 2 (IRP2) and decreased binding of IRP1 to a consensus iron-responsive element. The increased IRP2-binding activity in zinc-deficient cells coincided with an increased level of IRP2 protein. The accumulation of IRP2 protein was independent of zinc deficiency-induced intracellular nitric oxide production but was attenuated by the addition of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine or ascorbate to the D medium. These data support the concept that zinc deficiency can result in alterations in iron transporter, storage, and regulatory proteins, which facilitate iron accumulation."