Background: Medication overuse headache is a prevalent secondary headache due to the overuse of analgesics, mainly over-the-counter analgesics. Over-the-counter analgesics have been associated with disrupted male endocrinology, while the effects on female endocrinology remain nearly unknown. The aim was to understand the effect of long-term analgesic exposure in females with medication overuse headache on Anti-Müllerian hormone, a surrogate measure of female fertility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) is a neuropeptide pivotal in migraine pathophysiology and is considered a promising new migraine drug target. Although intravenous PACAP triggers migraine attacks and a recent phase II trial with a PACAP-inhibiting antibody showed efficacy in migraine prevention, targeting the PACAP receptor PAC1 alone has been unsuccessful. The present study investigated the role of three PACAP receptors (PAC1, VPAC1 and VPAC2) in inducing migraine-relevant hypersensitivity in mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Androgens have been hypothesized to be involved in the pathophysiology of cluster headache due to the male predominance, but whether androgens are altered in patients with cluster headache remains unclear.
Methods: We performed a prospective, case-controlled study in adult males with cluster headache. Sera were measured for hormones including testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and sex hormone-binding globulin in 60 participants with episodic cluster headache (during a bout and in remission), 60 participants with chronic cluster headache, and 60 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
Paracetamol/acetaminophen (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol, APAP) is a top selling analgesic used in more than 600 prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals. To study efficiently some of the potential undesirable effects associated with increasing APAP consumption (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mechanisms for how environmental chemicals might influence pain has received little attention. Epidemiological studies suggest that environmental factors such as pollutants might play a role in migraine prevalence. Potential targets for pollutants are the transient receptor potential (TRP) channels ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) and vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), which on activation release pain-inducing neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonizing drugs represents the most important advance in migraine therapy for decades. However, these new drugs are only effective in 50-60% of patients. Recent studies have shown that the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP38) pathway is independent from the CGRP signaling pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Endocrinol (Lausanne)
November 2022
Metformin is the first-line oral treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus and is prescribed to more than 150 million people worldwide. Metformin's effect as a glucose-lowering drug is well documented but the precise mechanism of action is unknown. A recent finding of an association between paternal metformin treatment and increased numbers of genital birth defects in sons and a tendency towards a skewed secondary sex ratio with less male offspring prompted us to focus on other evidence of reproductive side effects of this drug.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParacetamol (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (APAP), also known as acetaminophen) is used to relieve mild to moderate pain and reduce fever. APAP is widely used during pregnancy as it is considered safe when used as directed by regulatory authorities. However, a significant amount of epidemiological and experimental research suggests that prenatal exposure potentially alters fetal development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Perfluoroalkyl substances PFOS and PFOA are persistent and bioaccumulative exogenous chemicals in the human body with a range of suspected negative health effects. It is hypothesised that exposure during prenatal and early postnatal life might have particularly detrimental effects on intrauterine and childhood growth. In a Danish longitudinal mother-child cohort we investigate effect of PFOS and PFOA in pregnancy and infancy on intrauterine and childhood growth and anthropometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) was first discovered in the 1980s as a splice variant from the calcitonin gene. Since its discovery, its role in migraine pathophysiology has been well established, first by its potent vasodilator properties and subsequently by its presence and function as a neurotransmitter in the sensory trigeminovascular system. The migraine-provoking ability of CGRP gave support to the pharma industry to develop monoclonal antibodies and antagonists inhibiting the effect of CGRP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Headache Pain
May 2022
Background: The clinical use of calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor (CGRP-R) antagonists and monoclonal antibodies against CGRP and CGRP-R has offered new treatment possibilities for migraine patients. CGRP activates both the CGRP-R and structurally related amylin 1 receptor (AMY-R). The relative effect of erenumab and the small-molecule CGRP-R antagonist, rimegepant, towards the CGRP-R and AMY-R needs to be further characterized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-antagonizing drugs represent a major advance in migraine treatment. However, up to 50% of patients do not benefit from monoclonal antibodies against CGRP or its receptor. Here, we test the hypothesis that a closely related peptide, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP-38), works independently of CGRP and thus might represent a new, alternative drug target.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSample preparation of biological samples can have a substantial impact on the coverage of small molecules detectable using liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). This initial step is particularly critical for the detection of externally derived chemicals and their metabolites (internal chemical exposome) generally present at trace levels. Hence, our objective was to investigate how blood sample preparation methods affect the detection of low-abundant chemicals and to propose alternative methods to improve the coverage of the internal chemical exposome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Opening of K channels by systemic levcromakalim treatment triggers attacks in migraine patients and hypersensitivity to von Frey stimulation in a mouse model. Blocking of these channels is effective in several preclinical migraine models. It is unknown in what tissue and cell type K-induced migraine attacks are initiated and which K channel subtype is targeted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Rev Endocrinol
December 2021
Paracetamol (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (APAP), otherwise known as acetaminophen) is the active ingredient in more than 600 medications used to relieve mild to moderate pain and reduce fever. APAP is widely used by pregnant women as governmental agencies, including the FDA and EMA, have long considered APAP appropriate for use during pregnancy when used as directed. However, increasing experimental and epidemiological research suggests that prenatal exposure to APAP might alter fetal development, which could increase the risks of some neurodevelopmental, reproductive and urogenital disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Knowledge of exact signalling events during migraine attacks is lacking. Various substances are known to trigger migraine attacks in patients and calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonising drugs are effective against migraine pain. Here, we investigated the signalling pathways involved in three different mouse models of provoked migraine and relate them to calcitonin gene-related peptide and other migraine-relevant targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe analgesic paracetamol/acetaminophen (N-acetyl-4-aminophenol, APAP) is commonly used to relieve pain, fever and malaise. While sales have increased worldwide, a growing body of experimental and epidemiological evidence has suggested APAP as a possible risk factor for various health disorders in humans. To perform internal exposure-based risk assessment, the use of accurate and optimized biomonitoring methods is critical.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses represent important test cases for data federation due to their genome size and the rapid increase in sequence data in publicly available databases. However, some consequences of previously decentralized (unfederated) data are lack of consensus or comparisons between feature annotations. Unifying or displaying alternative annotations should be a priority both for communities with robust entry representation and for nascent communities with burgeoning data sources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Despite recent advances in migraine treatment there is a need for therapies with higher clinical efficacy and/or fewer side effects. Triptans (5-HT agonists) are essential in the present treatment regime and gepants (CGRP-receptor antagonists) are recognized as effective in acute migraine treatment. Triptans and gepants have different mechanisms of action and here we tested the hypothesis that a combination of these drugs (sumatriptan and olcegepant) would result in an additive effect.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMigraine is the most common neurological disorder worldwide and it has been shown to have complex polygenic origins with a heritability of estimated 40-70%. Both common and rare genetic variants are believed to underlie the pathophysiology of the prevalent types of migraine, migraine with typical aura and migraine without aura. However, only common variants have been identified so far.
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