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Biomedical subjects

E Martignoni

Publications and source records attributed to E Martignoni.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Effects of lisuride on blink reflex habituation in Parkinson disease.

The blink reflex presents a tendency to habituation (a gradual diminution of the amplitude of the response during repetitive stimulation). Electromyographic analysis of this reflex makes it possible to quantify this phenomenon. A lack of the habituation of the blink reflex is a typical feature of Parkinson disease. L-Dopa and amantadine, but not anticholinergic drugs, are able to partly reverse these abnormalities in blink reflex habituation to a normal pattern. Lisuride, a dopamine agonist with serotoninergic activity, has been recently proposed as antiparkinsonian agent. In our study we observed that lisuride has a positive effect on blink reflex habituation in Parkinson disease. A good correlation between the improvement of this electrophysiological parameter and clinical akinesia was seen. Mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effect of lisuride are complex, but this drug usually has a postsynaptic effect on D2 receptors. Our data suggest that these receptors play an important role in blink reflex habituation.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Endorphin patterns within the headache spectrum disorders.

The role of opioid peptides in modulating the nervous system adaptability has been demonstrated recently; proopiomelanocortin (POMC)-related peptides, in particular, serve in pain perception, in adaptation to stress, and in modulating higher brain functions. Primary headaches, besides pain, involve neuroendocrine/autonomic/adaptive processes as well as mood and personality factors. The view that primary headaches can be taken as a possible model of POMC-related peptides dysfunction led us to evaluate the resting plasma and CSF peptide levels and their plasma changes in response to various stimuli affecting their release. The data obtained from basal and dynamic studies agree with the concept that primary headaches are sustained by opioid system disturbance. In particular the reduced release of endogenous opioids by anterior pituitary in response to physical, endocrine or pharmacological stimuli agrees with a weak adaptive ability of headache sufferers. This impairment of endorphin responsiveness could play a key role in headache susceptibility to environmental stimuli. Primary headaches constitute a wide, intriguing field, including several subgroups bordering on "ischemic" and behavioral/affective disorders. The development of neuroendocrine techniques could be a useful means for supporting the clinical criteria identifying subpopulations of headache sufferers.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1985

beta-Endorphin cerebrospinal fluid decrease in untreated parkinsonian patients.

We measured CSF and plasma contents of beta-endorphin (beta-EP), beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH), and ACTH in 24 patients with Parkinson's disease; 14 had not been treated. CSF beta-EP concentrations in untreated patients were lower than in 15 controls (p less than 0.005), but values did not differ significantly in treated and untreated patients. In untreated and treated patients, ACTH and beta-LPH CSF, and beta-EP, beta-LPH, and ACTH plasma concentrations were in the same range as controls. The Parkinson's disease-related decrease of CSF beta-EP levels further supports the concept that there is a generalized brain disorder in Parkinson's disease affecting more than dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1985

Menstrual migraine, old and new.

The authors reviewed the connection between sexual hormones and migraine crisis. Besides other exogenous factors, the fall of estradiol blood levels in the late luteal and premenstrual phase seems a causal factor in the origin of menstrual-related headache crisis. The behaviour of migraine crisis during the various events of female reproductive life, support this view. The role of PRL, T, FSH and LH was also discussed. On the other hand, menstrual migraine represents a model that fits perfectly with a neuroendocrine hypothesis which is based upon a faulty chronobiological response of the so-called antinociceptive system.

Contraceptives, Oral, Combined↗
PubMed1984

Central ACTH deficit in degenerative and vascular dementia.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of ACTH, beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH) and beta-endorphin (beta-EP) were measured in 15 patients affected by dementia, who underwent also a brain computerized tomography (CT), and in 13 age-matched healthy volunteers. ACTH CSF levels of patients (4.0 +/- 2.4 fmol/ml, M +/- SD) were significantly lower than in controls (9.8 +/- 5.0, P less than 0.01) the lowest values being found in Alzheimer type of dementia (ATD: 3.1 +/- 2.5) and in patients with radiological evidence of cortical atrophy (2.5 +/- 1.2), independently of the probable origin of dementia. Although beta-LPH and beta-EP levels of patients fell within normal range, they were lower in ATD than in dementia sustained on a vascular origin. There was no variation of either peptides concentration in relation to CT findings. These data indicate the ACTH impairment as typical of dementia, supporting in humans the positive role of this peptide on learning and mnesic functions. Moreover, the maintained CSF levels of both beta-LPH and beta-EP in the dementia sustained on a vascular origin, while lower values were found in ATD, could represent a differentiation between vascular and degenerative diseases of the Central Nervous System (CNS).

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1984

Serotoninergic agonists increase plasma levels of beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin in humans.

A pharmacological approach was used to investigate the serotoninergic control of plasma levels on beta-endorphin (beta-EP) and beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH) in humans. Acute administration of L5-OH-triptophan, the physiologic precursor of serotonin (SE), induced a significant rise in plasma beta-EP and beta-LPH levels both when injected iv (20 and 40 mg) (four normal men) and when administered orally (200 and 400 mg) (seven normal men) (P less than 0.01 vs. placebo). The iv route of administration induced a prompt (mean peak values after 150 min) dose-dependent increase in beta-EP and beta-LPH levels. The responses evoked by oral administration (mean peak values after 130 and 240 min) were not dose dependent. Fluoxetine (15 and 30 mg orally) a blocker of SE reuptake, induced a significant dose-related rise in plasma beta-EP and beta-LPH levels in a group of seven normal men (P less than 0.01) (mean peak values after 150 min). Pretreatment with methysergide, a SE receptor antagonist (3 X 2.8 mg orally, five men), did not induce any significant changes in plasma beta-EP and beta-LPH levels, but blocked the increase in the two hormones evoked by L5-OH-triptophan (40 mg iv). Plasma cortisol levels changed similarly to those of beta-EP and beta-LPH in all the experiments, indicating that putative serotoninergic drugs exert a positive role on the various corticotropin-releasing hormone-mediated secretions.

5-Hydroxytryptophan↗
PubMed1983

Headache temporal patterns: towards a chronobiological model.

Rhythmical changes in terrain susceptibility and trigger occurrence can induce periodic temporal patterns in headache patients, with readily foreseeable frequency cycles of attacks. The impaired ability of biological functions to adjust to cyclic environmental changes represents the minus, the handicap, the increased risk of clinical symptomatology (headache); attacks occur when the precarious systems of these patients are forced by cyclical environmental stimuli towards phase shiftings or to cope with new levels of performance. A dyschronic hypothesis of primary headache must be based upon observations demonstrating that along with dysfunctions of the pain control systems there is also a vulnerability of the rhythmic physiological organization of CNS.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Changes of biological rhythms in primary headache syndromes.

The circadian periodicity of some endocrine (PRL, cortisol, GH) and vegetative (oral temperature, blood pressure) functions has been studied in cluster headache, common migraine, atypical facial pain, and "mixed" headache. Changes in several biological rhythms have been found not only in cluster headache (CH) but also in other kinds of headache. Although a great individual variability of rhythometric changes has been observed, particularly in CH, the dysrhythmic condition seems to be more evident in chronic than in episodic CH. The clinical and chronobiological effects of lithium administration and of a short-term sleep deprivation have been studied in CH.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Evaluation of central opioid tonus in menstrual migraine.

The aim of this study is to make an evaluation of the activity of endogenous opioid tonus in patients affected by menstrual migraine. We tested the LH response to naloxone injection, an opiate receptor antagonist, in 18 migraineurs in the early and late luteal periods going towards the attacks. The lack of any response in the latter group demonstrates an opioid disregulation in this kind of pathology.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Neuroendocrine data in chronic post-traumatic headache.

Twenty chronic post-traumatic headache subjects (16 men and 4 women) were considered, together with age and sex matched normal controls. Pituitary function was challenged by means of luteinising hormone releasing hormone (100 microg, i.v.), thyrotropin (TSH) releasing hormone (200 microg, i.v.) and regular insulin (.1 U/kg, i.v.). The responses of gonadotropins, TSH, somatotropin (STH) and prolactin (PRL) were studied in the group as a whole and in clinical subgroups. No differences were found in the baseline levels of the hormones. No significant changes were observed in the responses of gonadotropins and STH. A decreased response was found for TSH and, in the female series, an enhanced response of PRL was observed. Patients complaining for a decreased libido showed a larger PRL response. The smaller response of TSH exhibits a straight inverse relationship to the clinical severity. The periodicity of PRL secretion studied in male patients with a harmonic analysis according to the Fourier's theorem showed the preservation of the physiological sleep-entrained night surge. The per cent incidence of the harmonics with a period shorter than 24 hours decreases according to the clinical severity, at variance to the finding in normal controls. The only persisting harmonic is the one with a 24 hour period. In the absence of major post-traumatic endocrine syndromes, post-traumatic headache subjects show changes of the neuroendocrine regulation of pituitary secretion. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis of an hyperactivity of serotoninergic neurotransmission.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Circadian periodicity of plasma prolactin in some neurological diseases.

The circadian rhythmicity of plasma PRL has been studied in some neurological diseases in which hypothalamic involvement or abnormalities of brain neurotransmitters has been postulated. 11 patients with Steinert's myotonic dystrophy, 7 with cluster headache and 10 with Huntington's chorea have been studied. By the mean cosinor procedure, a significant circadian rhythm of plasma PRL has been observed both in Steinert's disease and in cluster headache, whereas a circadian periodicity is not detectable in Huntington's chorea, a degenerative disorder affecting the basal ganglia, the hypothalamus and many other areas of the CNS.

Adult↗