title: Novel therapeutic approach by nicotine in experimental model of multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune, neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. The cause of multiple sclerosis is still unknown, and there is no cure for multiple sclerosis. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis is considered as an animal model for multiple sclerosis. The therapeutic role of nicotine has been proven to be effective in both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, thus we examined, for the first time, the role of nicotine in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis induction was performed according to Guang-Xian Zhang et al. Treatment with nicotine was started on Day 7 post-immunization. Prevention with nicotine was started on Day 7 pre-immunization. Also for in-vitro analysis, we used U-87 MG cell line to evaluate the inhibitory effect of nicotine in cell proliferation, pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-lbeta, IL-6) and MMP-2 activity by MTT, ELISA, and zymoanalysis methods, respectively. Moreover, the brains of mice were removed for histological analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our findings showed that treatment with nicotine caused a significant reduction in the severity and onset of the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Histological analysis indicated that there was very mild and mild plaque in the brain sections of nicotine prevention and treatment groups, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data indicate that nicotine can significantly improve the clinical score and attenuate the demyelinating pathology typically found in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, indicating that nicotine has protective effects in experimental model of multiple sclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Ms. Naddafi is from Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Kish International Campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; Dr. Haidari is from Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Mr. Azizi is from Imam Hassan Mojtaba Hospital, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Kara], Iran; Dr. Sedaghat is from Department of Anatomy and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran; and Dr. Mirshafiey is from Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Naddafi
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reza Haidari
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Azizi
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sedaghat
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirshafiey
keywords: MMP-2; Multiple sclerosis; nicotine