Skin sodium is increased in male patients with multiple sclerosis and related animal models
Konstantin Huhn, Peter Linz, Franziska Pemsel, Bernhard Michalke, Stefan Seyferth, Christoph Kopp, Mohammad Anwar Chaudri, Veit Rothhammer, Arnd Dörfler, Michael Uder, Armin M. Nagel, Dominik N. Müller, Anne Waschbisch, De-Hyung Lee, Tobias Bäuerle, Ralf A. Linker, Stefanie Haase
Abstract
Na-MRI demonstrated a higher sodium signal in the area of the skin compared to age- and biological sex-matched healthy controls with higher sodium, predicting future disease activity in cranial MRI. In both studies, the sodium enrichment was specific to the skin, as we found no alterations of sodium signals in the muscle or other tissues. Our data add to the recently identified importance of the skin as a storage compartment of sodium and may further represent an important organ for future investigations on salt as a proinflammatory agent driving autoimmune neuroinflammation such as that in MS.