Stroke Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stroke, including details on treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, signs, symptoms.

Endothelial dysfunction in MELAS improved by l-arginine supplementation.

Koga Y, Akita Y, Junko N, Yatsuga S, Povalko N, Fukiyama R, Ishii M, Matsuishi T

Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan. yasukoga@med.kurume-u.ac.jp

The authors evaluated endothelial function in patients with MELAS (mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke) by flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and found a significant decrease vs controls. Two years of supplementation with oral l-arginine, a nitric oxide precursor, significantly improved endothelial function to control levels and was harmonized with the normalized plasma levels of l-arginine in patients. l-Arginine therapy improved endothelial dysfunction and showed promise in treating strokelike episodes in MELAS.

Published 13 June 2006 in Neurology, 66(11): 1766-9.
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