Systems Modeling Reveals Shared Metabolic Dysregulation and Novel Therapeutic Treatments in ME/CFS and Long COVID

[Treeman]

Abstract

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID are complex, multisystemic conditions that pose ongoing challenges to healthcare professionals. Emerging research suggests that ME/CFS and Long COVID exhibit overlapping metabolic symptoms, indicating possible shared metabolic dysfunctions. This study aims to systematically explore these shared metabolic disturbances and their potential treatments. Utilizing our novel metabolic modeling method, GPMM, we identified the key metabolic irregularities in patients with ME/CFS and Long COVID, notably the downregulation of the alanine and aspartate metabolism pathway, and the arginine and proline metabolism pathway. Genome-wide knockout analyses indicated that supplementation with aspartate (ASP) or asparagine (ASN) could potentially ameliorate these metabolic deficiencies. Further metabolic assessments in Long COVID patients highlighted the significant downregulation of ASP in both blood and muscle, supporting our predictions. Consequently, we propose that the combination of l-ornithine and l-aspartate (LOLA) offers a promising approach to alleviate metabolic symptoms in both ME/CFS and Long COVID patients. This study not only elucidates the shared metabolic pathways in ME/CFS and Long COVID but also positions LOLA as a viable candidate for future clinical trials.

Gong-Hua Li, Feifei Han, Qing-Peng Kong, Wenzhong Xiao

Here

Anyone tried l-ornithine and l-aspartate? Seems overly simplistic.

 

[Wishful]

I'm pretty sure that plenty of us tried ornithine and aspartate ... with no significant results. I doubt that there's a magic combination of the two that would treat ME.

I've tried arginine (no effect) and I was intolerant of proline for a while, but that passed. I don't know what that means for their theory.

 

[Forummember9922]

I see that their method (GPMM) which they are touting is actually on Github. Not sure if that means its completely open source but interesting at least. https://github.com/GonghuaLi/GPMM

Skimming posts about asparagine, I see someone had mentioned the term 'mitophagy' (not to be confused with autophagy) where old mitochondria are cleaned out. I had not heard of that and I wonder how unique mitophagy is from autophagy. Further wikipedia reading said that PINK1 is important in mitophagy. Concepts of ‘polarized’ mitochondria also come up. Prusty suggested CFS mitochondria were hyper-polarized IIRC.

The study calls for LOLA but it also mentions asparagine as a potential treatment. Asparagine is a 'derivative' of aspartate. Will try a bottle.

GPT (which ill be honest its been sketchy lately for providing well-sourced info) suggested that asparagine may have better safety profile due to decreased risk of excitotoxicity + better for overall metabolic health and protein synthesis.

 

[Katt]

Anyone tried l-ornithine and l-aspartate? Seems overly simplistic.

Yes, it was helpful for me when I was having high ammonia levels due to protein metabolism issues. But I never took it long term nor at a consisten dosage. Maybe it could help some metabolism issues but I don't see it doing a cure.

 

[Mary]

Anyone tried l-ornithine and l-aspartate? Seems overly simplistic.

I took l-ornithine several years ago for sleep. It helped quite a bit at one time, and then stopped helping. I don't know if I had issues with ammonia or not - I wouldn't know how to tell if I did. I've since tried ornithine a few times but with no apparent benefit. As I recall, it never did anything for me aside from helping with sleep at one time.

This LOLA combo does have me interested but I'm also concerned about l-aspartate as it's an excitatory neurotransmitter. I think almost everyone with ME/CFS has trouble with glutamate destroying their sleep, preventing them from calming down - I certainly do! Actually I have extreme sensitivity to MSG in all its iterations (https://www.truthinlabeling.org/names.html) Having any of those substances in my food at dinner will keep me awake almost all night.

So I wonder if l-aspartate would the do the same thing - anyone have any ideas about this?

 

[vision blue]

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