High asymmetric dimethylarginine, symmetric dimethylarginine and L-arginine levels in migraine patients

Experimental and clinical data strongly suggests that nitric oxide (NO) plays a pivotal role in migraine. This is also supported by studies of migraine induced by substances that release NO. NO is synthesized from L-arginine by endothelial NO synthase (NOS). Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is the major endogenous competitive inhibitor of NOS. Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is an inactive stereoisomer of ADMA. It may reduce NO production by competing with arginine for cellular uptake. The aim of this study was to measure the levels of ADMA, SDMA and L-arginine in migraine patients during the interictal period. One hundred migraine patients and 100 healthy volunteers were recruited. The patients were in the interictal period and classified into two groups as having migraine with aura and migraine without aura. Their serum ADMA, SDMA and L-arginine levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromotography (HPLC) method. ADMA, SDMA and L-arginine levels were significantly higher in migraine patients compared to the control group. But there was no difference between the patients with and without aura. These results suggest that NOS inhibitors and L-arginine/NO pathway plays an important role in migraine pathopysiology.