the MS liver
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 12:47 pm
so, cheer and i made a date to talk ms and the liver. i don't know much about the liver yet, but here's a start:
the liver has many functions that are relevant to ms-ers.
i've looked at a few things w.r.t nutrition that involve the liver, such as d3 and uric acid for starters. i've been looking at zinc and the liver for a while, and the relationship between zinc and uric acid status.
i've posted quite a bit about zinc deficiency causing membrane (keyword: endothelial) permeability problems (intestinal wall, blood brain barrier, optic neuritis, veins, etc etc etc) that are familiar to your average ms patient.
cheer mentioned a case earlier today, where a liver transplant caused a major EDSS improvement in an ms case.
today i got onto the idea of zinc deficiency potentially causing damage to the liver itself, so i searched for liver enzymes and zinc deficiency on google with this interesting result:
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultran ... Cycle.html
the liver requires zinc to get the job done. and/or, apparently, EFA.
the liver has many functions that are relevant to ms-ers.
i've looked at a few things w.r.t nutrition that involve the liver, such as d3 and uric acid for starters. i've been looking at zinc and the liver for a while, and the relationship between zinc and uric acid status.
i've posted quite a bit about zinc deficiency causing membrane (keyword: endothelial) permeability problems (intestinal wall, blood brain barrier, optic neuritis, veins, etc etc etc) that are familiar to your average ms patient.
cheer mentioned a case earlier today, where a liver transplant caused a major EDSS improvement in an ms case.
today i got onto the idea of zinc deficiency potentially causing damage to the liver itself, so i searched for liver enzymes and zinc deficiency on google with this interesting result:
what happens in amino acid metabolism? ammonia gets produced. it's the liver's job to detoxify said ammonia. ideally, it does this by converting the ammonia to uric acid. in which we know ms-ers are dramatically low.Effect of low-zinc status and essential fatty acids deficiency on the activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase in liver and serum of albino rats
Abstract
The effects of dietary deficiencies of zinc and essential fatty acids (EFAs) or both on aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were investigated in young growing rats. Four groups of albino rats were fed diets deficient in either EFA (4% hydrogenated coconut oil) or zinc (6 ppm) or both. The control diet was adequate in EFA (4% soybean oil) and zinc (100 ppm). The feeding trial lasted eight weeks and the activities of AST and ALT were determined in the liver and serum. EFA deficiency had no significant (p > 0.05) effect on liver AST. However, zinc and the double deficiencies depressed AST activity in the organ. Deficiencies of EFA, zinc and their combination depressed ALT activity in the liver significantly (p < 0.05) with a concomitant increase recorded in the serum. The data suggested alteration in endothelial permeability of the plasma membrane and thus leakage of membrane constituents in the tissue studied. It is therefore considered that these deficient diets may affect liver tissue negatively in view of the role of these enzymes in amino acid metabolism.
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultran ... Cycle.html
the liver requires zinc to get the job done. and/or, apparently, EFA.
thoughts/comments?Several studies have shown that zinc plays a regulatory action on the activity of ornithine-transcarbamylase (OTC), a key enzyme of urea cycle.