Kasatkin, D S, Spirin, N N · Neuroscience and behavioral physiology · 2007 · DOI
This study examined why people with multiple sclerosis (MS) often experience severe fatigue. The researchers identified different types of fatigue—exhaustion at rest, excessive tiredness after activity, and worsening fatigue during MS flare-ups—and explored how brain chemistry, hormones, immune system problems, and sleep issues might all contribute to this fatigue.
Understanding the multiple biological pathways underlying different types of fatigue—particularly distinguishing rest fatigue from exertional fatigue—could help clinicians better diagnose and treat fatigue in both MS and ME/CFS, which share similar neurological and immunological features. The proposed common mechanisms (neurotransmitter dysfunction, autoimmune activation) may apply broadly to post-infectious and demyelinating conditions.
This review does not provide direct experimental evidence for its proposed mechanisms and relies on synthesis of prior literature rather than new data. It does not establish causation or prove that the identified mechanisms are primary drivers of fatigue versus secondary effects. The applicability to ME/CFS specifically (which is not a demyelinating disease) remains unclear.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Kasatkin, D S & Spirin, N N (2007). Possible mechanisms of the formation of chronic fatigue syndrome in the clinical picture of multiple sclerosis.. Neuroscience and behavioral physiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-007-0004-9
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kasatkin-2007-possible-mechanisms,
author = {Kasatkin, D S and Spirin, N N},
title = {Possible mechanisms of the formation of chronic fatigue syndrome in the clinical picture of multiple sclerosis.},
journal = {Neuroscience and behavioral physiology},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1007/s11055-007-0004-9},
note = {PubMed: 17294096},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kasatkin-2007-possible-mechanisms},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kasatkin-2007-possible-mechanisms
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.