Imbalanced Brain Neurochemicals in long COVID and ME/CFS: A Preliminary Study using MRI

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Thapaliya, Kiran
Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya
Eaton-Fitch, Natalie
Eftekhari, Zeinab
Inderyas, Maira
Barnden, Leighton
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2024
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Abstract

PURPOSE: Long COVID and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) patients experience multiple complex symptoms, potentially linked to imbalances in brain neurochemicals. This study aims to measure brain neurochemical levels in long COVID and ME/CFS patients as well as healthy controls to investigate associations with severity measures. METHODS: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) data was acquired with a 3T Prisma MRI scanner. We measured absolute levels of brain neurochemicals in the posterior cingulate cortex in long COVID (n=17), ME/CFS (n=17), and healthy controls (n=10) using Osprey software. The statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 29. Age and sex were included as nuisance covariates. RESULTS: Glutamate levels were significantly higher in long COVID (p=0.02) and ME/CFS (p=0.017) than in healthy controls. No significant difference was found between the two patient cohorts. Additionally, N-acetyl-aspartate levels were significantly higher in long COVID patients (p=0.012). Importantly, brain neurochemical levels were associated with self-reported severity measures in long COVID and ME/CFS. CONCLUSION: Our study identified significantly elevated Glutamate and N-acetyl-aspartate levels in long COVID and ME/CFS patients compared with healthy controls. No significant differences in brain neurochemicals were observed between the two patient cohorts, suggesting a potential overlap in their underlying pathology. These findings suggest that imbalanced neurochemicals contribute to the complex symptoms experienced by long COVID and ME/CFS patients.

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The American Journal of Medicine

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© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advance online version.

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Biomedical imaging

Biomedical and clinical sciences

Health sciences

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Thapaliya, K; Marshall-Gradisnik, S; Eaton-Fitch, N; Eftekhari, Z; Inderyas, M; Barnden, L, Imbalanced Brain Neurochemicals in long COVID and ME/CFS: A Preliminary Study using MRI, The American Journal of Medicine, 2024

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