Abstract
It has been hypothesized that the symptoms of vertigo in patients with Ménière’s disease somehow are related to impaired production and/or transport of endolymph. Antisecretory factor (AF) is a protein known to affect transport processes in the intestine and it has been shown that intake of specially processed cereals (SPC) can increase endogenous AF synthesis. In a prospective open pilot study, 24 patients with severe Ménière’s disease (functional level scale 5–6 according to the criteria of AAO-HNS) received SPC for 14–30 days. AF levels in plasma increased by 83% in 20 of the 24 patients studied. The attacks of rotatory vertigo were reduced, to final AAO-HNS functional level scale 1–3, in 12 patients and in three of these hearing was normalized. Twelve patients had no or minor effects of the treatment. The correlation between AF activity after treatment and the final AAO-HNS functional level scale was −0.65, P<0.001. Studies in rats using immunohistochemistry methods showed that AF was localized to the cochlea and the vestibule of the inner ear. The present results suggest that AF might be a new regulator of the endolymph.
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