Are other antioxidants like uric acid or coenzyme Q10 useful in ALS?
A. Uric acid may work because the pathologic process weve implicated in ALS can be inhibited by uric acid. Uric acid is being used as a promising treatment for multiple sclerosis in an animal model. The problem is that it is very difficult to get uric acid into the brain. In our cell culture models, uric acid is protective, and Kristine Robinson in my lab is testing it in vivo right now in animal models of ALS. In some transgenic animal models of ALS, coenzyme Q10 is protective, but only weakly. Most patients are taking large amounts of it. There are studies showing that massive amounts of coenzyme Q10 are therapeutic in Parkinsons disease and possibly in Huntington’s disease. Q. How is ALS related to other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s? Is there a common etiology? A. I think so. Much can be learned from what is common among the three diseases, and all three can affect some people. On the island of Guam, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS can all develop in
