By Elise Kjørstad
Researchers at the University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital were part of a research team for a new study that found differences in blood samples between ME/CFS patients and healthy people.
Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS, had different levels of some substances that affect energy metabolism in the cells.
“What we think might be an explanation is that restricted blood flow during activity means the cells are receiving too little oxygen, and this leaves metabolic traces over time,” says Karl Johan Tronstad.
In the new study, the researchers performed an analysis of metabolites and other substances in blood samples from ME/CFS patients. Metabolites are metabolic products that are created when the cells convert different substances in the body.
The researchers analysed blood samples from 83 individuals with ME/CFS and 35 healthy controls.
The researchers measured about 1700 substances in the blood samples they took.
In the ME/CFS patients, they found an altered level of over 300 substances. Many of them involved the conversion of amino acids, which build up proteins, and lipids (fats).
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