Blockade of Glutamate receptors increasing fatigue

Association Between Glutamate Blockade and Fatigue in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis. Nourbakhsh B, Revirajan N, Waubant E. JAMA Neurol. 2015 Nov 1;72(11):1374-1375.

This study looks at the effect of riluzole on fatigue and it appeared to get worse. Riluzole is a sodium channel blocker and a glutamate receptor antagonist and was studied in a trial in people with early MS in combination with beta interferon. Glutamate receptor antagonism was thought to be neuroprotective but this trial did not show this, reported in other studies. So this does not bode well for one arm of MS SMART which is using riluzole. 

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