brain-derived neurotrophic and immunologic factors: beneficial effects of riboflavin on motor disability in murine model of multiple sclerosis

objective(s): in the present study, c57bl/6 female mice (n=56) were used to explore the neuroprotective effects of riboflavin in motor disability of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (eae) as a model of multiple sclerosis. materials and methods: the animals were assigned into 7 groups: sham-operated 1 (so1), healthy mice receiving pbs (phosphate buffer saline); sham-operated 2 (so2), healthy mice receiving pbs and riboflavin; sham treatment 1 (st1), eae mice receiving water; sham treatment 2 (st2), eae mice receiving sodium acetate buffer; treatment 1 (t1), eae mice receiving interferon beta-1a (infβ-1a); treatment 2 (t2), eae mice receiving riboflavin; treatment 3 (t3), eae mice receiving infβ-1a and riboflavin. after eae induction, scoring was performed based on clinical signs. upon detecting score 0.5, riboflavin at 10 mg/kg of body weight and/or infβ-1a at 150 iu/g of body weight administration was started for two weeks. the brain and spinal cord levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (bdnf), interleukin-6 (il-6), and interleukin-17a (il-17a) were studied using real-time pcr and elisa methods. results: bdnf expression and protein levels were increased in the brain and spinal cord of the t3 group compared with the other groups (p<0.01). il-6 and il-17a expressions were increased in the brains of the t3 and t1 groups, respectively, compared to the other groups (p<0.01). the daily clinical score was reduced significantly by riboflavin in both effector and chronic phases of the disease compared with that of the controls (p<0.05). conclusion: our findings showed that riboflavin is capable of suppressing the neurological disability mediated by bdnf and il-6.