Baraniuk James Nicholas, El-Amin Suliman, Corey Rebecca, Rayhan Rakib, Timbol Christian
Division od Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20007-2197, USA.
Glob J Health Sci. 2013 Feb 4;5(3):69-81. doi: 10.5539/gjhs.v5n3p69.
About 25% of 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War veterans experience disabling fatigue, widespread pain, and cognitive dysfunction termed Gulf War illness (GWI) or Chronic Multisymptom Illness (CMI). A leading theory proposes that wartime exposures initiated prolonged production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and central nervous system injury. The endogenous antioxidant L-carnosine (B-alanyl-L-histidine) is a potential treatment since it is a free radical scavenger in nervous tissue. To determine if nutritional supplementation with L-carnosine would significantly improve pain, cognition and fatigue in GWI, a randomized double blind placebo controlled 12 week dose escalation study involving 25 GWI subjects was employed. L-carnosine was given as 500, 1000, and 1500 mg increasing at 4 week intervals. Outcomes included subjective fatigue, pain and psychosocial questionnaires, and instantaneous fatigue and activity levels recorded by ActiWatch Score devices. Cognitive function was evaluated by WAIS-R digit symbol substitution test. Carnosine had 2 potentially beneficial effects: WAIS-R scores increased significantly, and there was a decrease in diarrhea associated with irritable bowel syndrome. No other significant incremental changes were found. Therefore, 12 weeks of carnosine (1500 mg) may have beneficial cognitive effects in GWI. Fatigue, pain, hyperalgesia, activity and other outcomes were resistant to treatment.
1990 - 1991年海湾战争老兵中约25%经历了致残性疲劳、广泛性疼痛和认知功能障碍，称为海湾战争病（GWI）或慢性多症状疾病（CMI）。一种主流理论认为，战时接触引发了活性氧（ROS）的长期产生和中枢神经系统损伤。内源性抗氧化剂L - 肌肽（β - 丙氨酰 - L - 组氨酸）是一种潜在的治疗方法，因为它是神经组织中的自由基清除剂。为了确定补充L - 肌肽是否能显著改善GWI患者的疼痛、认知和疲劳，我们进行了一项随机双盲安慰剂对照的12周剂量递增研究，涉及25名GWI患者。L - 肌肽以500、1000和1500毫克的剂量给药，每隔4周增加一次。结果包括主观疲劳、疼痛和社会心理问卷，以及由ActiWatch Score设备记录的即时疲劳和活动水平。认知功能通过韦氏成人智力量表修订版（WAIS - R）数字符号替换测试进行评估。肌肽有两个潜在的有益作用：WAIS - R评分显著提高，与肠易激综合征相关的腹泻有所减少。未发现其他显著的增量变化。因此，12周的肌肽（1500毫克）可能对GWI患者有有益的认知影响。疲劳、疼痛、痛觉过敏、活动和其他结果对治疗有抗性。
