L-arginine Therapy on Endothelium-dependent Vasodilation & Mitochondrial Metabolism in MELAS Syndrome
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2013-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
MELAS patients suffer from exercise intolerance, weakness, poor vision or blindness, poor
growth, developmental delay, and deafness. They also have unique 'stroke-like' episodes
(SLEs) which are not due to blockages of large or medium arteries. These 'strokes' are
thought to be due to energy failure of very small brain blood vessels combined with energy
failure in the mitochondria (cell battery) of the brain cells, especially in the back region
of the brain in the vision centre. This leads to visual loss and paralysis. The overall goal
of this study is to better understand the mechanism of these SLEs at the level of the brain
cells and small blood vessels.