title: Endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in migraine patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Endothelial dysfunction could be involved in the pathophysiology of migraine. The results obtained from a few studies on endothelial dysfunction in migraine are controversial. We investigated brachial flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), which reflects systemic endothelial dysfunction, in migraine patients without comorbidities. By employing strict inclusion criteria we avoided the possible changes to FMD from confounding factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty migraine patients without comorbidities (20 with and 20 without aura) and 20 healthy subjects were included. FMD of brachial arteries and carotid intima-media thickness were measured by using standard procedures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We did not find any difference in FMD between migraine patients and healthy subjects (p = .96). Also, no differences were found among healthy subjects, migraine patients with aura and without aura (p = .99).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that systemic endothelial function is not impaired in migraine patients without comorbidities, neither in those with or without aura. Considering these findings, the investigation of cerebral endothelial function would be useful in a further investigation of the role of endothelial (dys)function in migraine pathophysiology.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center Ljubljana, Department of Neurology, Ljubljana, Slovenia. perkodenis@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perko
authors.forename: Janja
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pretnar-Oblak
authors.forename: Miso
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabovic
authors.forename: Bojana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zvan
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zaletel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015897:Comorbidity; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D020325:Migraine with Aura / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020326:Migraine without Aura / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000502:physiology*