Mass Spectrometry HEAVY METALS AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS IN SARDINIAN POPULATION (ITALY) Roberto Madeddu, 1,6 Giovanni Forte, 2 Beatrice Bocca, 2 Paola Tolu, 1 Maria Alessandra Sotgiu, 1 Giovanni Sotgiu, 3 Juan Antonio Marchal, 4 Stefano Sotgiu, 5 and Andrea Montella 1 1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Italy 2 Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy 3 Institute of Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sassari, Italy 4 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Spain 5 Department of Neuroscience and Maternal-Infantile Sciences, University of Sassari, Italy 6 National Institute of Biostructures and Biosystems (INBB), Rome, Italy The understanding of factors involved in the etiopathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is very important, especially in Sardinia (insular Italy) where one of the highest MS inci- dences in the world is consistently reported over time. There is evidence that some metals are implicated in the MS course and disability, and, a study was carried out to assess the concentration of Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 51 Sardinian subjects (29 consecutive patients and 22 controls). In fact, any unbalance in the homeostasis of metals in the CSF might predispose to the cellular brain metal trans- port and accumulation giving rise to pathogenic lesions terminating in neurodegeneration. Samples were diluted with water and metals were quantified by sector field induc- tively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS). Results revealed that none of the metals quantified in the CSF were able to distinguish the MS cases from controls and the different MS forms. Furthermore, sex, age, coffee, alcohol intake, and smoking did not represent risk factors for the disease. In light of this outcome, the reasons of the high incidence of MS in Sardinia may be more likely addressed to the susceptible genetic background that is easily triggered by other environmental agents. The results are the first data set on the elemental profile in the CSF of Sardinian patients and can be used for com- parisons with possible abnormal contents in other pathologies. Keywords: Cerebrospinal fluid; Metals; Multiple sclerosis Received 8 April 2010; accepted 27 July 2010. Address correspondence to Roberto Madeddu, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Italy. E-mail: rmadeddu@uniss.it Analytical Letters, 44: 1699–1712, 2011 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0003-2719 print=1532-236X online DOI: 10.1080/00032719.2010.520396 1699