Biochemistry Laboratory for the Study of Primary Headaches and Neurological Diseases, Research and Innovation SpA, Padova, Italy.
Neurol Sci. 2012 May;33 Suppl 1:S71-6. doi: 10.1007/s10072-012-1045-6.
The eating disorders (ED), anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), are severe psychiatric and somatic conditions occurring mainly in young woman. Although the aetiology is largely unknown, same evidences suggest that biological and psychological factors play a relevant role in the pathogenesis, along with monoamine, indole and same hypothalamic hormonal dysfunctions. Migraine is characterized by similar metabolic and psychological anomalies suggesting that a possible relationship exists between the two pathological conditions. To understand the possible relationship between migraine and ED, we have investigated the prevalence of migraine and the other primary headaches in a large group of AN and BN patients. In addition, we have studied the role of tyrosine metabolism in the same group of AN and BN young woman sufferers. In particular, we measured plasma levels of elusive amines: tyramine (Tyr) and octopamine (Oct) and catecholamines: noradrenalin (NE), dopamine (DA). The results of this study show that the prevalence of migraine in the woman affected by ED is very high (<75 %). The levels of Tyr and DA were higher and levels of NE were lower in the ED patients in respect to the control subjects. These biochemical findings suggest that abnormalities of limbic and hypothalamic circuitries play a role in the pathogenesis of ED. The very high prevalence of migraine in our group of ED sufferers and the biochemical profile of migraine, similar to that of ED patients shown in this study, suggest that migraine may constitute a risk factor for the occurrence of ED in young females. This hypothesis is supported by the onset of migraine attacks that initiated, in the majority of the patients, before the occurrence of ED symptoms.
进食障碍（ED），神经性厌食症（AN）和神经性贪食症（BN），是主要发生在年轻女性中的严重精神和躯体疾病。尽管病因在很大程度上尚不清楚，但同样的证据表明，生物和心理因素在发病机制中起相关作用，伴随着单胺、吲哚和相同的下丘脑激素功能障碍。偏头痛的特征是类似的代谢和心理异常，这表明这两种病理状况之间可能存在关系。为了了解偏头痛和 ED 之间的可能关系，我们调查了一大群 AN 和 BN 患者中偏头痛和其他原发性头痛的患病率。此外，我们研究了酪氨酸代谢在同一组 AN 和 BN 年轻女性患者中的作用。特别是，我们测量了血浆中难以捉摸的胺：酪胺（Tyr）和章鱼胺（Oct）和儿茶酚胺：去甲肾上腺素（NE），多巴胺（DA）。这项研究的结果表明，ED 患者偏头痛的患病率非常高（<75%）。与对照组相比，ED 患者的 Tyr 和 DA 水平较高，而 NE 水平较低。这些生化发现表明，边缘和下丘脑电路的异常在 ED 的发病机制中起作用。我们的 ED 患者组中偏头痛的高患病率和偏头痛的生化特征，与本研究中 ED 患者的相似，表明偏头痛可能是年轻女性发生 ED 的一个危险因素。这一假设得到了偏头痛发作的支持，大多数患者在出现 ED 症状之前就开始偏头痛发作。
