| Literature DB >> 29387527 |
Marie Deen1, Hanne D Hansen2, Anders Hougaard3, Martin Nørgaard4, Hans Eiberg5, Szabolcs Lehel6, Messoud Ashina7, Gitte M Knudsen8.
Abstract
Migraine has been hypothesized to be a syndrome of chronic low serotonin (5-HT) levels, but investigations of brain 5-HT levels have given equivocal results. Here, we used positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the 5-HT4 receptor as a proxy for brain 5-HT levels. Given that the 5-HT4 receptor is inversely related to brain 5-HT levels, we hypothesized that between attacks migraine patients would have higher 5-HT4 receptor binding compared to controls. Eighteen migraine patients without aura (migraine free >48 h), and 16 age- and sex-matched controls underwent PET scans after injection of [11C]SB207145, a specific 5-HT4 receptor radioligand. An investigator blinded to group calculated a neocortical mean [11C]SB207145 binding potential (BPND). Three migraine patients reported a migraine attack within 48 h after the scan and were excluded from the primary analysis. Comparing 15 migraine patients and 16 controls, we found that migraine patients have significantly lower neocortical 5-HT4 receptor binding than controls (0.60 ± 0.09 vs. 0.67 ± 0.05, p = .024), corrected for 5-HTTLPR genotype, sex and age. We found no association between 5-HT4 receptor binding and attack frequency, years with migraine or time since last migraine attack. Our finding of lower 5-HT4 receptor binding in migraine patients is suggestive of higher brain 5-HT levels. This is in contrast with the current belief that migraine is associated with low brain 5-HT levels. High brain 5-HT levels may represent a trait of the migraine brain or it could be a consequence of migraine attacks.Entities:
Keywords: Brain; Headache; Neuroimaging; Pain; Serotonergic mechanisms
Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2018 PMID: 29387527 PMCID: PMC5790018 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.01.016
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Neuroimage Clin ISSN: 2213-1582 Impact factor: 4.881
Demographics and PET variables.
| Patients | Controls | p-Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of subjects (men/women) | 15 (2/13) | 16 (3/13) | |
| Genotype (LA homozygote/S or LG carrier) | 6/9 | 6/10 | |
| Age (years) | 29.6 ± 10.2 | 28.9 ± 10.2 | .85 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 22.6 ± 1.7 | 23.9 ± 4.8 | .33 |
| Major depression inventory | 7.87 ± 7.6 | 7.13 ± 4.8 | .75 |
| Injected radioactivity (MBq) | 584 ± 16 | 591 ± 19 | .34 |
| Specific radioactivity (GBq/μmol) | 567 ± 282 | 486 ± 217 | .38 |
| [11C]SB injected mass per kg (μg/kg) | 0.008 ± 0.006 | 0.008 ± 0.005 | .90 |
| [11C]SB cerebellum AUC/specific radioactivity (GBq/μmol) | 31.1 ± 23 | 32.6 ± 21 | .85 |
Continuous variables are presented as mean ± SD.
Two-sample t-test.
Migraine history.
| Subject | Migraine history | Attack frequency | Time since last migraine attack (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 2 | 17 |
| 2 | 7 | 2 | 12 |
| 3 | 21 | 3 | 11 |
| 4 | 25 | 1 | 22 |
| 5 | 15 | 2 | 15 |
| 6 | 20 | 1 | 31 |
| 7 | 19 | 1 | 19 |
| 8 | 8 | 0.5 | 50 |
| 9 | 17 | 2 | 15 |
| 10 | 7 | 1 | 29 |
| 11 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 12 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 13 | 36 | 4 | 4 |
| 14 | 16 | 3 | 5 |
| 15 | 10 | 2 | 13 |
| Median (range) | 15 (2–36) | 2 (0.5–4) | 15 (4–50) |
Fig. 1Migraine patients have lower neocortical 5-HT4 receptor binding than controls (0.60 ± 0.09 vs. 0.67 ± 0.05, p = .024) after adjusting for covariates (5-HTTLPR status, age, and sex). Black bars indicate mean ± SD. The difference remained after exclusion of subject 15 (the patient with the lowest BPND) (0.63 ± 0.06 vs. 0.68 ± 0.05, p = .038).