Effect of reserpine on regional cerebral glucose metabolism in control and migraine subjects
H. Sachs, A. Wolf, J. A. Russell and D. R. Christman
The regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose metabolism (RCMRGlu) in
five headache and six control subjects was measured with positron emission
tomography (PET) using the tracer 2-deoxy-D-[1-11C] glucose before and
after the administration of reserpine. The short half-life of the carbon 11
tracer made possible a test-retest paradigm wherein each subject served as
his own control in assessing the effect of reserpine on RCMRGlu. Thus,
measurements were first performed with subjects at rest and subsequently at
1 1/2 hours after the parenteral administration of reserpine
(rest-reserpine). In control subjects without history of migraine,
reserpine did not induce headache, and, furthermore, PET measurements 1 1/2
hours after drug administration consistently showed a global increase in
RCMRGlu over resting values similar to that observed in a normal control
(rest-rest) group not receiving reserpine. By contrast, four of the five
subjects with migraine began to experience a mild unilateral headache or
visual disturbances 1 1/2 hours after reserpine, at which time PET scanning
showed a 5% to 30% decline in RCMRGlu below the values that had been
measured before reserpine injection, all well outside of the 99% confidence
limits of normal variation separately determined on 25 control subjects
(rest-rest). There was no apparent laterality, and subjects with a history
of either common or classic migraine responded in a similar manner. The
difference in percent change in RCMRGlu following administration of
reserpine observed in these four subjects with migraine headaches was
significantly different over all regions of interest as compared with all
six control subjects receiving the drug.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
