Fibromyalgia and headache. Failure of serotonergic analgesia and N-methyl-D-aspartate-mediated neuronal plasticity: their common clues.
A defect in serotonergic analgesia and a hyperalgesic state are proposed as features common to headache and fibromyalgia. The benefit to both migraine and fibromyalgia from inhibiting ionotropic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor activity implies that redundant hyperalgesia-related neuroplastic changes are crucial for severe or chronic migraine and primary fibromyalgia. The fact that migraine and primary fibromyalgia share some pivotal set-up of serotonergic and excitatory amino acid systems led us to analyse epidemiological data supporting the hypothesis that analgesic disruption and a consequent hyperalgesic state are mechanisms of both migraine and fibromyalgia. Beyond demonstrating the comorbidity between migraine and primary fibromyalgia, the data suggest that migraine may represent a risk factor for fibromyalgia.
Nicolodi
M
M
Interuniversity Centre of Neurochemistry and Clinical Pharmacology of Idiopathic Headache, Florence, Italy.
Volpe
A R
AR
Sicuteri
F
F
D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006261:Headache / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D017211:Treatment Failure
D000700:Analgesics; D012701:Serotonin; D016202:N-Methylaspartate