Mitochondria and Multiple Sclerosis

Mitochondrial defects have been studied intensively in numerous neurologic and nonneurologic disorders, ranging from rare mitochondrial encephalomyopathies (e.g., Leigh syndrome) to common neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Parkinson disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). In contrast, the role of mitochondria in neuroimmunologic disorders has received only a modest amount of attention. In this study, the authors focus on mitochondrial defects in acute multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions from nine patients: five with pattern-III lesions and four with pattern-II lesions (by the classification scheme of Lucchinetti and colleagues. The researchers conducted quantitative immunohistochemical analyses of subunits of mitochondrial complex IV (cyto…