Posted by Todd (216.199.5.93) on May 25, 2000 at 18:14:07:
For the analytic types, I found this interesting, even though it (predictably) refers to migraines rather than clusters.
Dopamine Receptor Hypersensitivity Related to Migraine
WESTPORT, May 15 (Reuters Health) - Peripheral blood lymphocytes of migraineurs have an increased density of dopamine D3 and D4 receptors compared with healthy controls, according to investigators in Rome.
Dr. Piero Barbanti of the Universita 'La Sapienza'' and colleagues used radioligand binding assay techniques to study 25 patients suffering from migraine and 20 healthy control subjects.
They found a significant increase in the maximum density of binding sites of D3 and D4 receptors in migraine patients compared with the controls. The density of binding sites was not correlated with age, sex, or clinical features of the migraine.
"This up-regulation might reflect central and/or peripheral dopamine receptor hypersensitivity due to hypofunction of the dopaminergic system," they write in the February issue of Cephalalgia.
"The present data support the view that dopamine D2-like receptors are at least involved in the determination of the so-called migraine trait," Dr. Barbanti and his team conclude.
Cephalalgia 2000;20:15-19.