Table 3 Mean (SEM) absolute concentrations (mmol/kg) of muscle biochemicals.

From: Brain and muscle chemistry in myalgic encephalitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID: a 7T magnetic resonance spectroscopy study

 

CFS patients

Long COVID patients

Healthy controls

Univariate ANOVA

(F value, p)

Carnosine (mM)

(n = 21, 22, 21)

2.88 (0.23)

3.03 (0.39)

3.88 (0.33)

2.464, 0.094

Acetylcarnitine (mM)

(n = 21, 22, 21)

5.28 (0.98)

6.34 (0.85)

4.00 (0.52)

2.383, 0.101

Creatine (mM)

(n = 21, 22, 23)

31.58 (1.56)

31.89 (1.78)

27.34 (1.77)

2.189, 0.121

Trimethyl Ammonium (nM)

29.26 (6.17)

31.86 (4.55)

21.42 (2.78)

1.419, 0.250

Intra-myocellular lipids (IMCL) (% water)

(n = 21, 22, 23)

0.5 (0.1)

1.1 (0.03)

0.9 (0.1)

1.442, 0.244

Extra-myocellular lipids (EMCL) (% water)

(n = 21, 22, 23)

1.5 (0.2)

1.4 (0.3)

1.4 (0.2)

0.601, 0.551

  1. For all metabolites, univariate general linear model (GLM) was performed adjusting for age, with two-group comparisons not performed as GLM results were not significant.
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