These findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, could lead to the development of effective treatments for this condition that has affected the lives of veterans for more than thirty years.
Study leader Dr. Robert Haley, professor of internal medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, stated: "Our research shows that these veterans do not suffer from nerve cell damage, which would have been an intractable condition, but rather from an energy imbalance, suggesting that their symptoms may respond to modern treatments."
The study was conducted by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and supervised by Dr. Sergei Chichkov, former assistant professor of radiology at the center, and Dr. Richard Briggs, retired professor in the Department of Radiology.
During the Gulf War of 1990-1991, approximately 700,000 American troops were deployed to the region. More than 25% of these soldiers returned suffering from a mysterious array of chronic symptoms, including fatigue, pain, memory and concentration problems, balance disorders, exercise intolerance, and skin rashes.
Mounting evidence suggests that this condition—now known as Gulf War Illness (GWI), or Gulf War Syndrome—is linked to low-level exposure to the nerve agent sarin. However, the mechanism by which this exposure led to the onset of symptoms has remained unclear.
For more than three decades, Dr. Haley and his colleagues have used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to examine the ratio of two chemicals in a deep brain region known as the basal ganglia, which play a crucial role in coordinating movement and emotional processing.
Initial studies showed a decrease in the ratio between N-acetyl aspartate and total creatinine in those with the disease, but the techniques available at the time did not allow for determining whether this decrease was due to nerve cell damage or mitochondrial dysfunction.
Using state-of-the-art magnetic resonance spectroscopy techniques, researchers were able to determine that the lower percentage in Gulf War sickness patients is due to elevated levels of total creatinine, indicating mitochondrial dysfunction.
Dr. Haley explained that mitochondrial dysfunction in the brain leads to chronic neuroinflammation, which practically explains all the symptoms of the disease.
The research team is currently continuing to study how low-level exposure to sarin gas weakens mitochondrial function, hoping to develop future treatments that can alleviate this chronic inflammation and provide relief to those affected.
