期刊名称：Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition
印刷版ISSN：0912-0009
电子版ISSN：1880-5086
出版年度：2003
卷号：33
期号：3
页码：95-100
DOI：10.3164/jcbn.33.95
出版社：The Society for Free Radical Research Japan
摘要：Although some trace amines have clearly defined roles as neurotransmitters in human, their exact role in the neurophysiology of headache remains unclear. In this study, plasma levels of one trace biogenic amine; serotonin (5-HT) and its metabolite; 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were assayed by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection in 50 subjects suffering from chronic headache due to various aetiologies including migraine. Moreover, 30 normal healthy subjects were also included in the study as control group. Results of the present work demonstrated significant decrease in plasma levels of both 5-HT and 5-HIAA in patients with chronic headache as compared with control subjects. Furthermore, 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels were not found to be correlated with the duration of headache, age and sex of the patient groups studied. Moreover, the two parameters exhibited significant decrease in subjects with migraine as compared with subjects with chronic headache due to causes other than migraine. This finding points to the major role played by 5-HT deficiency in the pathophysiology of headache in general and migraine in particular. The identifications of the exact pathophysiology of headache and migraine lead to the development of novel therapeutics for subjects with migraine as well as non migranous chronic headache.
