Calcium intake and the protein composition of mouse brain: relevance to multiple sclerosis.

Epidemiological data has suggested the involvement of calcium metabolism in the incidence of multiple sclerosis through a link with high childhood milk intake followed by a large or sudden reduction during the adolescent growth spurt. In this study polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of SDS-solubilized proteins in the aqueous insoluble pellet fractions of laboratory mouse brain tissue at 6 months of age has shown that a dietary reduction from high calcium intake to 0.005% CaCO3 or less in early life can cause a change in the electrophoretic pattern of low molecular weight proteins. This change is similar in appearance and molecular weight to an abnormality seen in the electrophoretic pattern of SDS-solubilized proteins in the aqueous insoluble pellet fractions of multiple sclerosis plaque. It is proposed that this finding could indicate a worthwhile area for future research and that the hypothesis of a reduction from high to very low calcium intake during adolescence being involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis should not be discounted.