Results: The course of washout (average duration of 3.3 months) wasdifferent in individuals. An uncomplicated course of a 3-monthwashoutwas recorded in 2 ill. Between the 2nd and 3rd month of washout MRIreactivation of MS was observed in 1 patient, 5 patients had relapses, 1rebound,with actually EDSS 7.0. Except this patient, the others continuethe fingolimod treatment with stable clinical course.Conclusion: Available news from the literature draw attention toshortening the washout despite the increased risks of PML. Practicalexperience in our small group of the ill supports these tendencies.

doi:10.1016/j.jns.2013.07.1499

Abstract — WCN 2013No: 447Topic: 6 — MS & Demyelinating DiseasesNew oral treatment designed for clinical stabilizationin multiple sclerosis

E. de Font-Réaulx. Centro Neurológico, ABC Medical Center,Methodist International Network, Mexico, Mexico

It is mandatory to have a safe and effective treatment to stop theMultiple Sclerosis' progression. Previous clinical trials designed tostop MS progression have failed to demonstrate the ideal clinicalstabilization and most of them have potential severe adverse effects.We administrated to MS patients a new oral treatment to stop itsprogression. This treatment called Cervô, contains four substancesthat have effect in controlling themost important knownmechanismsof disease progression as: aberrant apoptosis, oxidative damage,mitochondrial degeneration, caspase activation and Mitogen-Activat-ed Protein-Kinase (MAPK) activation, among others. We had previ-ously demonstrated that it is safe to use Cervô in humans. We gaveCervô as monotherapy during the follow-up period to all the patients.Results: We included 23 patients with MS. Age: 20 to 60 years old(mean 39.6 years, SD +/−12.81), 16 female (69.6%), 7 male (30.4%).Basal EDSS score: 0–8 (mean 3.0). Follow-up period: 3–67 months(mean 30.35, SD +/−21.75). No adverse effects were observed.Clinical evaluation: There was no deterioration in EDSS score in 21patients (91.30%), and 9 of them (39.13%) improved their basalUPDRS score. The mean EDSS score at 12 months was 2.62(SD +/−2.76), at 24 months 2.61 (SD +/−2.77), and at 46 months2.71 (SD +/−2.92). Only 2 patients (8.69%) had worse UPDRS score.Conclusions: Cervô is a new promising medication that accordingwith this study may stop MS progression in most patients. This needsto be confirmed with a randomized multi-centric study.

doi:10.1016/j.jns.2013.07.1500

Abstract — WCN 2013No: 455Topic: 6 — MS & Demyelinating DiseasesTopical application of brain derived neurotrophic factor attenuatesspinal cord trauma induced edema and myelin damage

A. Sharmaa, D.F. Muresanub, H.S. Sharmaa. aSurgical Sciences,Anesthesiology & Intensive Care Medicine, Uppsala University Hospital,Uppsala, Sweden; bClinical Neurosciences,Medicine & Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Influence of brain derived neurotrophic factor on spinal cord traumainduced edema formation and myelin damage was examined usingimmunohistochemical and ultrastructural investigations. A focaltrauma to the rat spinal cord (right dorsal horn lesion, T10–11)induces degradation of myelin basic protein (MBP) immunoreactivity

in both spinal cord gray and white matter at 5 h. This decrease in MBPimmunoreactivity was most pronounced in the vicinity of the injuredspinal cord. A general expansion of the cord and swelling of gray andwhite matter is clearly evident. A significant increase in spinal cordwater content occurs in the traumatized as well as in the adjacentrostral (T9) and caudal (T12) spinal cord segments. Ultrastructuralstudies show profound myelin vesiculation, membrane damage andedema in the spinal cord. Pretreatment with BDNF (1 μg/ml solution)for 30 min (n = 5), 0 min (n = 5) and 2 min (n = 5) after traumasignificantly reduced the MBP degradation, edema and myelinvesiculation. However, similar treatment with BDNF for 10 min(n = 5) and 30 min (n = 5) after injury did not induce a significantprotection of myelin following spinal cord trauma. The mostpronounced effect of BDNF induced neuroprotection was found whenthe growth factor was applied 30 min before trauma. These observa-tions suggest that BDNF is neuroprotective in spinal cord trauma, ifgiven before injury, indicating a potential role of the growth factor intreatment of spinal cord injury in near future.

doi:10.1016/j.jns.2013.07.1501

Abstract — WCN 2013No: 546Topic: 6 — MS & Demyelinating DiseasesCorrelation of multiple sclerosis incidence trends with solar andgeomagnetic indices: New roadmap for solving the puzzle ofmultiple sclerosis

S.A. Sajedia, F. Abdollahib. aDepartment of Neurology,Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran;bDepartment of Internal Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur Universityof Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

Background: Recently, we introduced solar related geomagneticdisturbance (GMD) as a potential environmental risk factor formultiplesclerosis (MS). We showed that it can describe MS prevalencedistribution better than other geophysical factors and can explainspecial MS features such as birth month effect, relapsing–remittingnature and migration effect.Objective: To test probable correlation between solar activities andGMDs with long-term variations of MS incidence.Materials and methods: We studied the association between alter-ations in solar wind velocity (VSW) and Planetary A index (AP, a GMDindex) with previously published data of MS incidence trend in Tehranby Elhami et al. andwestern Greece by Papathanasopoulos et al., duringthe 23rd solar cycle (1996–2008), through an ecological–correlationalstudy. Cross-correlation analyses were used for finding possible lead–lag relationships.Results: We found strong correlations among MS incidence ofTehran with VSW (rS = 0.665, p = 0.013) with one year delay, andwith AP (rS = 0.864, p = 0.001) with 2 year delay. There were verystrong correlations among MS incidence data of Greece with VSW

(r = 0.906, p b 0.001) and with Ap (r = 0.844, p = 0.001) both withone year delay.Conclusion: For the first time in the history of MS, a hypothesis hasintroduced an environmental factor that can describe MS incidencevariations. Important message of these findings for researchers is toprovide MS incidence reports with higher resolution, based on thetime of disease onset, not the time of diagnosis. Then, it would bepossible to conduct superposed epoch analyses to better investigatethe validity of GMD hypothesis.

doi:10.1016/j.jns.2013.07.1502

Abstracts / Journal of the Neurological Sciences 333 (2013) e358–e421e416