MONTREAL - Scientists at the MUHC have made progress in
understanding what causes migraines. The research, published in the new
issue of the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reveals
how gene mutations known to cause a form of inherited migraine - the kind
that cause debilitating headaches and light flashes known as auras - target
a cellular process involved in brain cell communication.
"A number of mutations have been shown to result in familial migraines,"
says Dr. Rhoda Blostein-a medical scientist at the Research Institute of
the MUHC, professor in the Department of Medicine and Biochemistry at
McGill University, and author of the new study. "Discovering genetic
mutations that cause disease is important, but in order to develop
treatments we must understand what these mutations do." By engineering
several genetic mutations known to cause inherited migraines (type 2), and
incorporating them into human cells, Dr. Blostein and her team showed
several genotypes damage the operation of a tiny cellular mechanism
commonly known as the Sodium Pump (Sodium/Potassium ATPase enzyme).
"Much of what happens in your brain-from memory to basic movement-is the
result of the transmission of electrical impulses along nerve cells," says
Dr. Blostein. "This is a basic process by which our brain cells
communicate." By expelling sodium from the cell, and drawing potassium from
outside, the sodium pump maintains a gradient of potassium, which is
critical for the propagation of electrical signals along nerve cells. Like
an air conditioner in the heat of summer, the sodium pump is a massive
energy hog, consuming around 30% of the energy produced by the cell in
order to perform this vital cellular process.
Of particular interest in this study is that some mutations cause migraines
by reducing sodium pump efficiency-akin to reducing the power supply. "This
is the first time that a genetic mutation of the sodium pump has been shown
to cause disease by changing the properties of this biochemical process,
rather than completely turning it off," notes Dr. Blostein. This new
understanding of how genetic mutations cause migraines takes us one step
closer to the development of improved treatments, providing hope to
millions of migraine sufferers.
This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) is
a world-renowned biomedical and health-care hospital research centre.
Located in Montreal, Quebec, the institute is the research arm of the MUHC,
a university health center affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at
McGill University. The institute supports over 500 researchers, nearly 1000
graduate and post-doctoral students and operates more than 300 laboratories
devoted to a broad spectrum of fundamental and clinical research. The
Research Institute operates at the forefront of knowledge, innovation and
technology and is inextricably linked to the clinical programs of the MUHC,
ensuring that patients benefit directly from the latest research-based
knowledge. For further details visit: www.muhc/research.
The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is a comprehensive academic
health institution with an international reputation for excellence in
clinical programs, research and teaching. The MUHC is a merger of five
teaching hospitals affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at McGill
University--the Montreal Children's, Montreal General, Royal Victoria, and
Montreal Neurological Hospitals, as well as the Montreal Chest Institute.
Building on the tradition of medical leadership of the founding hospitals,
the goal of the MUHC is to provide patient care based on the most advanced
knowledge in the health care field, and to contribute to the development of
new knowledge.
Ian Popple
Communications Coordinator (research)
MUHC Public Relations and Communications
Tel : (514) 843-1560
ian.popplemuhc.mcgill
muhc.mcgill