Conditions: Multiple Sclerosis Cognition
Keywords: multiple sclerosis cognition clinical trial thiotic acid Omega-3 fatty acids
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 54
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The primary aim is to collect data to determine the correct effect size on the primary outcome to aid in the design of a larger study: The primary outcome is to determine if lipoic acid and omega-3 fatty acids can improve cognitive function in people with multiple sclerosis that have cognitive dysfunction.

Detailed description:
The study is designed as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial. The primary aim of the study is to determine if lipoic acid and omega-3 fatty acids can improve cognitive function over 12-weeks in people with multiple sclerosis that have a baseline score of at least two standard deviations below normative values on any one of four cognitive tests that include, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT), Stroop Color-Word Test, California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II), and Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT).

The secondary aim is to determine treatment effects on markers of endothelial inflammation, insulin dysregulation, and mitochondrial dysfunction that may be related to cognitive dysfunction by measuring soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) levels, homeostasis model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and MRI phosphorus imaging in a subset of study participants. The study will also measure safety by adverse event reports and laboratory measures; plasma fatty acid levels; serum lipoic acid levels.

Arms:
arm 1: lipoic acid and omega-3 fatty acids arm 2: placebo oil and placebo lipoic acid

Interventions: intervention 1: lipoic acid and omega-3 fatty acids intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: alpha lipoic acid as racemic form at 1,200 mg per day omega-3 fatty acids as fish oil concentrate containing a daily dose of 1.35 grams docosahexanoic acid and 1.95 grams of eicosapentaenoic acid intervention 2: placebo lipoic acid and placebo oil

Protocol document: