A study on the role of beta endorphin glutamate excitotoxicity and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of migraine

Abstract

newline ABSTRACT newlineBackground: newlineMigraine is a multifactorial disorder resulting from complex interactions between multiple newlinepredisposing biochemical and environmental factors. There is a paucity of studies on betaendorphin (and#946;-endorphin), its relation with glutamate and oxidative stress in migraine subtypes newlineand the effect of treatment in migraine. newlineObjective: newlineThis study has been undertaken to evaluate the role of and#946;-endorphin, glutamate, oxidative newlinestress markers in migraine subtypes, subgroups, and response of these markers in different newlinetypes of treatment, ie. Amitriptyline (AMT) or repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation newline(rTMS) therapy. newlineSubject and methods: newlineOne hundred and fifty migraine patients having more than 4 migraine attacks per month were newlineincluded. One hundred and twenty with rTMS; 60 received true session of rTMS and 60 newlinepatients received placebo stimulation and 30 patients were treated with AMT. All the clinical newlinecharacteristics were measured before and after the treatment. The severity of the headache newlinewas assessed by Migraine Index (MI). Good outcome was defined by 50% improvement in newlineMI. Plasma and#946;-endorphin and glutamate level were measured by assay kit method and relative newlineexpression of MOR, DOR, NR2B and mGluR3 receptors by real-time polymerase chain newlinereaction (RT-PCR). Malondialdehyde (MDA) assay was performed to analyze lipid newlineperoxidation (LPO). Glutathione (GSH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), glutathione-Stransferase (GST) were analyzed biochemically as antioxidants markers. The changes in these newlineparameters before and after treatment were measured and correlated with the clinical newlineparameters.