• Il Han Yoo, Myung Jin Kim, Jiyoung Kim, Jung Joon Sung, Sung Taek Park, and Suk Won Ahn.
• Department of Neurology, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• J. Korean Med. Sci. 2019 Jul 22; 34 (28): e197.

BackgroundMultiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-associated inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system and results in serious disability. Although many disease-modifying therapy drugs have been developed, these drugs have shown limited clinical efficacy and some adverse effects in previous studies, therefore, there has been reasonable need for less harmful and cost-effective therapeutics. Herein, we tested the anti-inflammatory effect of sulforaphane (SFN) in a mouse model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).MethodsThe EAE mice were randomly assigned into two experimental groups: the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-treated EAE group and SFN-treated EAE group. After EAE mice induction by auto-immunization against the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide, we evaluated EAE symptom scores and biochemical analyses such as infiltration of inflammatory cells and demyelination of the spinal cord. Furthermore, western blotting was performed using the spinal cords of EAE mice.ResultsIn the behavioral study, the SFN-treated EAE mice showed favorable clinical scores compared with PBS-treated EAE mice at the 13th day (1.30 ± 0.15 vs. 1.90 ± 0.18; P = 0.043) and 14th day (1.80 ± 0.13 vs. 2.75 ± 0.17; P = 0.003). Additionally, the biochemical studies revealed that SFN treatment inhibited the inflammatory infiltration, demyelinating injury of the spinal cords, and the up-regulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase in the EAE mice.ConclusionThe SFN treatment showed anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects in the EAE mice. Conclusively, this study suggests that SFN has neuroprotective effects via anti-inflammatory processing, so it could be a new therapeutic or nutritional supplement for MS.© 2019 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

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