Relationship between blood antioxidant enzyme levels and genotype during migraine attack and initial periods in migraine cases

Migraine, which constitutes an important group of primary headaches, is the headache that causes labor force loss the most. Although many researches have been conducted to research migraine etiopathogenesis, no exact conclusion could be reached yet. In recent years, importance of oxidative stress on migraine pathogenesis like on many diseases is being researched.The aim of this study is to research the roles of antioxidant enzymes such as Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Glutathione Peroxidase (GSH-Px), Catalase (CAT), antioxidant Glutathione (GSH) and Malondialdehyte (MDA) of a lipid peroxidation product in migraine pathogenesis. Moreover, the incidence of this polymorphism in Turkish population is being researched by looking at the gene polymorphism of the enzymes of Manganese Superoxide Dismutase (Mn-SOD), Glutathione Peroxidase-3 (GSH-Px3) and Catalase (CAT).40 volunteers, including 30 females and 10 males, suffering from migraine and 40 healthy volunteers have been involved in this study. We compared antioxidant enzymes (GSH-Px, CAT and SOD), blood GSH and plasma MDA levels between patients who suffer from migraine and control group, and also between the attack period and initial period in patients suffering from migraine. We detected a statistically remarkable decrease in GSH-Px, CAT, SOD and GSH levels between the patients suffering from migraine and control group (for GSH, CAT p?0.001, for GSH-Px p=0.017, for SOD p=0.04). Statistically, there wasn?t any difference between attack period and initial period in patients suffering from migraine (p?0.05). As for plasma levels, we haven?t found any statistical difference between patients suffering from migraine and control group, and between attack period and initial period in patients suffering from migraine (p?0.05). In the molecular part of our study, we haven?t found any statistical difference between patients suffering from migraine and control group for Mn-SOD and CAT genotypes, but found a remarkable difference for GSH-Px3 genotype. For all of the three genes, there were no difference between the patients and control group in terms of allele frequency.Consequently, oxidative stress and antioxidant enzymes play an important role in migraine pathogenesis, and according to our data GSH-Px3 gene polymorphism cause an inclination to migraine for our regional community.Key words: Migraine, Manganese Superoxide Dismutase, Glutathione Peroxidase -3, Catalase, Polymorphism.