Vitamin C update - to Bob

[Guest guest]

Bob,

This is MDA's report on " C " . Don't know if you have seen it or not.

3rd paragraph explains what the objective is with all the trials - GG

VITAMIN C HELPS MICE WITH CMT1A

http://www.mdausa.org/research/040601vitaminc.html

High doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) can improve or stabilize

motor function in mice with a particular form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth

(CMT) disease, say researchers in France, who published their results

in the April issue of Nature Medicine. Edith Passage and Jean

Chretien Norreel of the Institut National de la Sante et de la

Recherche Medicale (Institute of Health and Medical Research) in

Marseille gave high doses of ascorbic acid to mice with CMT type 1A.

The human form of CMT1A usually results from a duplication in the

gene for peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) on chromosome 17, with

overproduction of the PMP22 protein. It's this type of PMP22 defect

that the researchers reproduced in the mice used in these experiments.

In addition to the improved function, they found evidence that the

ascorbic acid may have reduced PMP22 overproduction and thereby

normalized the formation of myelin, a sheath that surrounds nerve

fibers and helps signals move through the nervous system. The effect

may be specific to the type of CMT that results from PMP22

overproduction.

The investigators say they plan to begin clinical trials of vitamin C

in CMT1A in the near future, but they urge caution for the present.

" Regarding clinical trials of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in CMT1A, one

must keep in mind that a molecule is not a medicine, " said Michel

Fontes, who was on the study team. " We do not know if ascorbic acid

works in humans and what the optimal dose is. " Fontes went on to say

that mice differ from humans in that they synthesize ascorbic acid,

while humans do not.

He also expressed concern that if enough patients begin taking large

doses of vitamin C on their own, it might be impossible to do a study

to find out if it really works and what its toxicity might be.