Visual Evoked Potentials in Multiple Sclerosis Patients, Correlation with Glutathione Level as an Indicator of Oxidative Stress

Abstract

Background: Multiple sclerosis implicit a high burden that is associated with reduced quality of life and a socioeconomic impact not only on the involved individual or family but on the whole health system. Glutathione is a thiol-containing molecule, as it functions as a main antioxidant Visually evoked potential refers to electrical potentials, initiated by transitory visual stimuli

Objective: the current study aim is to explore the correlation between glutathione level as a protective (antioxidant) and visual evoked potentials as a marker of early demyelination in MS patients. Patients and methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study that was conducted in Ghazi Al Hariri Hospital from the first of November 2021 to the end of January 2022. Fifty patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis were enrolled in the study and compared to 50 apparently healthy controls. For both groups visual evoked potentials were examined and glutathione level was measured using ELISA. All data were refined and analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Independent t test was used to explore the difference between the two groups. Pearson Correlation was calculated to investigate the type of the relation between glutathione levels and VEPS results in MS cases. In all statistical analysis a p value ≤0.05 is considered significant. Results: The average age of MS cases was 33.52±8.01 years. The mean disease duration was 4.06±3.05 years. The study showed a significant difference between MS cases and controls.MS cases had longer latency periods, lower amplitude, high IO differences, and lower glutathione levels. There is a negative correlation between the latency period and glutathione levels. Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was -0.418 (p- value = 0.002) for the left eye and r= -0.353 (p-value < 0.012) for the right eye. Another significant negative correlation was reported between disease duration and glutathione levels (r = -0.339; p value=0.016). Conclusions and recommendations: The relatively cheap, non-invasive procedure of VEPs helps in detecting the demyelination process, in association with glutathione levels that demonstrate the presence of oxidative stress, which highlights a promising therapeutic supplement for MS cases.