According to WHO data, migraine episodes especially affect people between 35 and 45 years of age, and twice as many women as men suffer, mainly due to hormonal influences.
Now, a team of scientists from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche has published a work in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences in which they delve into the physiological mechanism responsible for this prevalence in women. The results are preliminary, because as the authors emphasize, it is a study carried out with animal models, and extrapolating the results to humans is not so easy , but it does open doors to the understanding of this disease and its development of treatments to alleviate it.
According to the team of researchers, the key would be found in the trigeminal nerve and in the cells and blood vessels that surround it . This is the great sensory nerve of the face, and is well known for the famous trigeminal neuralgia, a rather painful neuropathy. “In our experimental model we have observed significant differences between men and women, and now we are trying to understand the cause at the molecular level,” explains Antonio Ferrer-Montiel, one of the scientists involved in the study. “Although it is a fairly complex process, we believe that modulation of the trigeminovascular system by sex hormones plays a very important role that until now had not been adequately addressed.”
The team of researchers conducted a comprehensive review of work published in recent decades on migraines, sex hormones, and cell responses to migraine triggers. In this way, they found that some hormones such as testosterone seem to play a protective role, while others, such as prolactin, worsen it. This effect is exerted by modulating the sensitivity of the ion channels of the cells, which control their responses to external stimuli.
Estrogens, key hormones
On the other hand, the scientists observed that estrogens could be a key piece in understanding how and why a migraine appears. One of the reasons for reaching this conclusion is that some types of migraines have been associated with changes in estrogen levels associated with the menstrual cycle . And the results of the experiments corroborated their role, as it appears that fluctuations in estrogens sensitize cells surrounding the trigeminal nerve, making it easier for migraine to occur.
Although more studies are needed to delve into the relationships between the hormones of the menstrual cycle and migraines, Ferrer-Montiel’s team is optimistic and sees a promising future in the search for a truly effective therapy. The next step in the research will be the use of human-based pre-clinical models. ” If we succeed, we will contribute to a more personalized medicine to treat migraine “, concludes the researcher.
Reference: Artero-Morales et al. 2018. TRP Channels as Potential Targets for Sex-Related Differences in Migraine Pain ”Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences doi: 10.3389 / fmolb.2018.00073
