Cortical glutamate in migraine

Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 2013

Susceptibility to migraine is influenced by a multitude of factors including gene-environment and gene-gene interactions. The emerging picture of migraine pathogenesis is that it is a complex polygenic and heterogeneous disorder at both the population and molecular levels. Causes of migraine are not very clearly understood and therefore research into the aetiology of migraine takes several different approaches including genetic, pharmacological and biochemical to integrate disease based information on multiple levels. Neurotransmitters have been implicated in migraine pathogenesis, in particular the excitatory transmitter glutamate with supporting evidence from GWAS and genotyping case-control studies. The brain contains large amounts of glutamate, a plentiful excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter necessary to the integrity of synaptic plasticity and memory in CNS functioning, which is highly toxic to neurons if present for prolonged periods. Glutamate has been implicated in cortical spreading depression (CSD) in animal models and the ingestion of glutamate in the form of monosodium glutamate in predisposed individuals can elicit sensitivity and migraine-like headache (the MSG Symptom Complex). Comparisons between migraine patients and normal controls on biochemical measures in a range of biological fluids have shown significant differences between these groups particularly in migraineurs with aura. Despite the observation of notable biochemical alterations, specific diagnostic markers are lacking. In this review we discuss biochemical findings in plasma, platelets, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid, and urine that support the conception that a component of glutamate receptor disruption may contribute to migraine susceptibility.

2018

Certain perceptual measures have been proposed as indirect assays of brain neurochemical status in people with migraine. One such measure is binocular rivalry, however, previous studies have not measured rivalry characteristics and brain neurochemistry together in people with migraine. This study compared spectroscopy-measured levels of GABA and Glx (glutamine and glutamate complex) in visual cortex between 16 people with migraine and 16 non-headache controls, and assessed whether the concentration of these neurochemicals explains, at least partially, inter-individual variability in binocular rivalry perceptual measures. Mean Glx level was significantly reduced in migraineurs relative to controls, whereas mean occipital GABA levels were similar between groups. Neither GABA levels, nor Glx levels correlated with rivalry percept duration. Our results thus suggest that the previously suggested relationship between rivalry percept duration and GABAergic inhibitory neurotransmitter conce...

Cephalalgia, 2004

Both preclinical and clinical data link glutamate to the migraine pathophisiology. Altered plasma, platelets and cerebrospinal (CSF) glutamate levels have been reported in migraine patients. Chronic migraine is comorbid with several conditions. It has been recently shown chronic migraine comorbidity with fibromyalgia. The objective of this study was to study cerebrospinal fluid glutamate levels in chronic migraine patients with and without fibromyalgia. We studied 20 chronic migraine patients, with and without fibromyalgia, compared to age-sex matched controls. CSF glutamate levels were measured by HPLC. CSF glutamate demonstrated significantly higher levels in patients with fibromyalgia compared to those without fibromyalgia. Patients overall had higher CSF glutamate levels than controls. Mean pain score correlated with glutamate levels in chornic migraine patients. Tender points, the hallmark of fibromyalgia, can be considered as pressure allodynia, and is probably mediated by cen...

Despite migraine being one of the top five most prevalent childhood diseases, a lack of knowledge about pediatric migraine limits effective treatment strategies; standard adult pharmaceutical therapies are less effective in children and can carry undesirable side-effects. Non-pharmacological therapies have shown some success in adults; however, to appropriately apply these in children we need to understand pediatric migraine’s underlying biology. One theory is that migraine results from an imbalance in cortical excitability. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies show changes in GABA and glutamate levels (the primary inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain, respectively) in multiple brain regions. Although there is indirect evidence of abnormal excitability in pediatric migraine, GABA and glutamate levels have yet to be assessed.The purpose of this study was to measure levels of GABA and glutamate in the thalamus, sensorimotor cortex and visual cortex of chil...

Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 2011

Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 2007

Neurology

ObjectiveTo examine whether interictal plasma pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide 38-like immunoreactivity (PACAP38-LI) shows correlation with the microstructural integrity of the white matter in migraine.MethodsInterictal plasma PACAP38-LI was measured by radioimmunoassay in 26 patients with migraine (24 women) who underwent diffusion tensor imaging afterward using a 1.5-tesla magnetic resonance scanner. Data were analyzed using tract-based spatial statistics included in FMRIB's Software Library.ResultsInterictal plasma PACAP38-LI showed significant correlation with mean diffusivity (p < 0.0179) mostly in the bilateral occipital white matter spreading into parietal and temporal white matter. Axial and radial diffusivity showed positive correlation with interictal PACAP38-LI (p < 0.0432 and p < 0.0418, respectively) in the left optic radiation and left posterior corpus callosum. Fractional anisotropy did not correlate significantly with PACAP38-LI. With disea...

The Egyptian Journal of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, 2013

Life Science Insider, 2024

Where there are people there is a risk of contamination. Part of developing a successful contamination control assessment is identifying this risk, whether that is through inadvertent touching and transferring contamination or simply the shedding of skin detritus. Here Dr Tim Sandle explains why understanding our own microbiomes are key to this process.