According to some researchers, experts looking for the origins of multiple sclerosis (MS) may have been looking in the wrong place all along. They argue that the terrible disease may be caused by blockages along blood vessels, which physically prevent blood from reaching the brain, thus producing all the effects that the condition has. This idea is currently under investigation at the University of Buffalo, in the United States, where researchers say they were intrigued by the results an Italian scientist obtained while studying the correlation between blood vessel thickness and MS.

The BBC News reports that researcher Dr Paolo Zamboni found that 90 percent of all multiple sclerosis cases he analyzed were caused by narrower than usual veins. The American team says that the results of their colleague are intriguing, and definitely worth investigating. The Italian scientist showed in his work that the restricted blood flow, which results from the damaged circulation pattern, is responsible for starving the human brain of the amounts of oxygenated blood it needs to sustain all of its operations. When this happens, consequences appear, and MS could be one of them, research shows.

In multiple sclerosis, the patients' central nervous system becomes unable to communicate with the rest of the body, or doe... (read more)