A preliminary study of the concentration of metallic elements in the blood of patients with multiple sclerosis as measured by ICP-MSOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
Blood from 30 MS patients and controls was analyzed by ICP-MS for 12 metallic elements. MS patients showed reduced concentrations of beryllium, copper, chromium, cobalt, nickel, magnesium and iron, and a significantly elevated concentration of lead. The findings support a role for altered transition-metal handling in MS and frame the host nickel level as not elevated, in contrast with the nickel dependence of the enriched gut methanogen and sulfate reducers.