ArticlePloS one2015
Trace elements in scalp hair samples from patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of Selenium Levels with Neurodegenerative Disease: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- The multifaceted role of hair as a biospecimen: recent advances in precision medicine and forensic science.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2025Review
- An Update Overview on Mechanistic Data and Biomarker Levels in Cobalt and Chromium-Induced Neurodegenerative Diseases.Biological trace element research · 2024Review
- Aluminium in the Human Brain: Routes of Penetration, Toxicity, and Resulting Complications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Facets of ICP-MS and their potential in the medical sciences-Part 1: fundamentals, stand-alone and hyphenated techniques.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2022Review
- Article
- The position of geochemical variables as causal co-factors of diseases of unknown aetiology.SN applied sciences · 2022Review
- An Evaluation of Different Digestion Methods for the Quantitation of Inorganic Elements in Human Hair Using ICP-MS.Journal of analytical methods in chemistry · 2022Article
- Rubidium chloride modulated the fecal microbiota community in mice.BMC microbiology · 2021Article
- Metal Imbalance in Neurodegenerative Diseases with a Specific Concern to the Brain of Multiple Sclerosis Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- A preliminary study of the concentration of metallic elements in the blood of patients with multiple sclerosis as measured by ICP-MS.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Article
- Occurrence of selected elements (Ti, Sr, Ba, V, Ga, Sn, Tl, and Sb) in deposited dust and human hair samples: implications for human health in Pakistan.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2018Article
- Redox metals homeostasis in multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a review.Cell death & disease · 2018Review
- Is It the Appropriate Time to Stop Applying Selenium Enriched Salt in Kashin-Beck Disease Areas in China?Nutrients · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEpidemiological studies have suggested a possible role of trace elements (TE) in the etiology of several neurological diseases including Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Hair analysis provides an easy tool to quantify TE in human subjects, including patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
objectiveTo compare TE levels in scalp hair from patients with MS and healthy controls from the same geographic area (Sicily).
methodsICP-MS was used to determine the concentrations of 21 elements (Ag, Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Sr, U, V and Zn) in scalp hair of 48 patients with relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis compared with 51 healthy controls.
resultsMS patients showed a significantly lower hair concentration of aluminum and rubidium (median values: Al = 3.76 μg/g vs. 4.49 μg/g and Rb = 0.007 μg/g vs. 0.01 μg/g;) and higher hair concentration of U (median values U: 0.014 μg/g vs. 0.007 μg/g) compared to healthy controls. The percentages of MS patients showing hair elemental concentrations greater than the 95th percentile of controls were 20% for Ni, 19% for Ba and U, and 15% for Ag, Mo and Se. Conversely, the percentages of MS patients showing hair elemental concentrations lower than the 5th percentile of healthy controls were 27% for Al, 25% for Rb, 22% for Ag, 19% for Fe, and 16% for Pb. No significant association was found between levels of each TE and age, disease duration or Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score. After stratification by gender, healthy subjects did not show any significant difference in trace element levels, while MS patients showed significant differences (p<0.01) for the concentrations of Ag, Cr, Fe, Ni and Sr. No significant differences were also found, at p<0.01, in relation to the use of cigarettes, consume of water, vegetables and place of living.
conclusionThe different distributions of TE in hair of MS patients compared to controls provides an additional indirect evidence of metabolic imbalance of chemical elements in the pathogenesis of this disease. The increase in U and decrease in Al and Rb levels in MS compared to controls require further assessments as well as the observed different distributions of other elements.
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