Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK.
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford OX4 4XN, UK.
Nutrients. 2024 Sep 30;16(19):3308. doi: 10.3390/nu16193308.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic medical condition with no specific pharmacological treatment. Creatine, a nutrient essential for maintaining energy homeostasis in the cells, is a candidate for interventions in ME/CFS.
Fourteen participants with ME/CFS received supplementation with 16 g creatine monohydrate for 6 weeks. Before starting creatine and on the last day of treatment, participants underwent brain magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) scanning of the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), followed by symptom, cognition, and hand-grip strength assessments.
Eleven participants completed the study. Creatine treatment increased creatine concentration in both the pgACC and DLPFC ( = 0.004 and 0.012, respectively), decreased fatigue and reaction time (RT) on congruent and incongruent trials of the Stroop test ( = 0.036 and 0.014, respectively), and increased hand-grip strength ( = 0.0004). There was a positive correlation between increases in pgACC creatine and changes in RT on Stroop congruent and incongruent trials ( = 0.048 and = 0.022, respectively). Creatine was well tolerated, and none of the participants stopped treatment.
Creatine supplementation over six weeks in ME/CFS patients increased brain creatine and improved fatigue and some aspects of cognition. Despite its methodological limitations, this study encourages placebo-controlled investigations of creatine treatment in ME/CFS.
肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合征（ME/CFS）是一种慢性疾病，目前尚无特定的药物治疗方法。肌酸是维持细胞能量平衡所必需的营养素，是 ME/CFS 干预措施的候选药物。
14 名 ME/CFS 患者接受了为期 6 周的肌酸单水合物补充剂治疗。在开始肌酸治疗前和治疗的最后一天，参与者接受了前扣带回皮质（pgACC）和背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）的脑磁共振波谱（MRS）扫描，然后进行症状、认知和握力评估。
11 名参与者完成了研究。肌酸治疗增加了 pgACC 和 DLPFC 中的肌酸浓度（分别为 = 0.004 和 0.012），降低了 Stroop 测试中一致和不一致试验的疲劳和反应时间（分别为 = 0.036 和 0.014），并增加了握力（ = 0.0004）。pgACC 肌酸增加与 Stroop 一致和不一致试验 RT 变化之间存在正相关（分别为 = 0.048 和 = 0.022）。肌酸耐受性良好，没有参与者停止治疗。
在 ME/CFS 患者中补充肌酸 6 周可增加大脑肌酸，并改善疲劳和认知的某些方面。尽管存在方法学限制，但这项研究鼓励对 ME/CFS 患者的肌酸治疗进行安慰剂对照研究。
