ArticleScientific reports2023
Mitochondrial impairment but not peripheral inflammation predicts greater Gulf War illness severity.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mitochondrial Bioenergetic Approach to Restore Veteran Vitality: A Feasibility Pilot.Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Decadelong low basal ganglia NAA/tCr from elevated tCr supports ATP depletion from mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation in Gulf War illness.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Neurometabolite alterations in Gulf War Illness: a whole-brain magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.Experimental brain research · 2025Observational
- Gulf War Illness, Fibromyalgia, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long COVID Overlap in Common Symptoms and Underlying Biological Mechanisms: Implications for Future Therapeutic Strategies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- SOD2 genetics regulating mitochondrial management of oxidative stress is tied to chemical sensitivity in Gulf war veterans.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Mitochondrial Impairment in Healthy Controls With Recent Headache and Multiple Symptoms.Cureus · 2025Article
- Coenzyme Q10 and Xenobiotic Metabolism: An Overview.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Navigating Psychiatric Concerns in a Veteran Reporting Gulf War Illness: A Case Report.The Permanente journal · 2025Article
- Gulf War Illness Induced Sex-Specific Transcriptional Differences Under Stressful Conditions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Dysregulation of lipid metabolism, energy production, and oxidative stress in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome and fibromyalgia.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Article
- Core features and inherent diversity of post-acute infection syndromes.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Gulf war illness: a tale of two genomes.BMC research notes · 2024Article
- Bioenergetic impairment in Gulf War illness assessed viaScientific reports · 2024Article
- Susceptibility to radiation adverse effects in veterans with Gulf War illness and healthy civilians.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Echoes of Gulf War Illness: A Case Study of Chronic Symptoms from Toxic Exposure in East Palestine, Ohio.Annals of case reports · 2024Article
- The effect of disease misclassification on the ability to detect a gene-environment interaction: implications of the specificity of case definitions for research on Gulf War illness.BMC medical research methodology · 2023Article
- Bioenergetic function is decreased in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of veterans with Gulf War Illness.PloS one · 2023Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Gulf War illness (GWI) is an important exemplar of environmentally-triggered chronic multisymptom illness, and a potential model for accelerated aging. Inflammation is the main hypothesized mechanism for GWI, with mitochondrial impairment also proposed. No study has directly assessed mitochondrial respiratory chain function (MRCF) on muscle biopsy in veterans with GWI (VGWI). We recruited 42 participants, half VGWI, with biopsy material successfully secured in 36. Impaired MRCF indexed by complex I and II oxidative phosphorylation with glucose as a fuel source (CI&CIIOXPHOS) related significantly or borderline significantly in the predicted direction to 17 of 20 symptoms in the combined sample. Lower CI&CIIOXPHOS significantly predicted GWI severity in the combined sample and in VGWI separately, with or without adjustment for hsCRP. Higher-hsCRP (peripheral inflammation) related strongly to lower-MRCF (particularly fatty acid oxidation (FAO) indices) in VGWI, but not in controls. Despite this, whereas greater MRCF-impairment predicted greater GWI symptoms and severity, greater inflammation did not. Surprisingly, adjusted for MRCF, higher hsCRP significantly predicted lesser symptom severity in VGWI selectively. Findings comport with a hypothesis in which the increased inflammation observed in GWI is driven by FAO-defect-induced mitochondrial apoptosis. In conclusion, impaired mitochondrial function-but not peripheral inflammation-predicts greater GWI symptoms and severity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.