Impaired oxidative-antioxidative balance during migraine attack

Background: Recent evidence has suggested that oxidative stress may play a role in the pathophysiology of migraine. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the oxidative-antioxidative status in sera of migraine patients from an Iranian population during migraine attacks. Methods: This study recruited 46 migraine patients with or without aura and 45 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. The levels of protein carbonyl (PC), malondialdehyde (MDA) and total oxidants status (TOS) were measured as the indicators of oxidative stress. The levels of total thiols (T-SH), reduced glutathione (GSH) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were determined as markers of antioxidant status. Oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated by dividing TOS to TAC. Results: The serum levels of MDA (4.10 +/- 0.70 vs. 3.20 +/- 0.62, P = 0.003), TOS (18.46 +/- 4.06 vs. 16.21 +/- 3.67, P = 0.007) and OSI (1.54 +/- 0.60 vs. 1.22 +/- 0.46, P = 0.006) were significantly higher in migraine group compared to controls, however, no statistically significant differences of PC levels were found between migraine patients and controls (0.615 +/- 0.161 vs. 0.517 +/- 0.126, P = 0.1). In contrast, the levels of T-SH (273 +/- 51.71 vs. 310.88 +/- 53.32, P = 0.001), GSH (28.08 +/- 6.20 vs. 32.13 +/- 5.8, P = 0.002) and TAC (1.27 +/- 0.226 vs. 1.41 +/- 0.26, P = 0.01) were significantly lower in migraine patients compared to healthy controls. Conclusion: Our study showed higher levels of oxidative stress and lower levels of antioxidant status in migraine group compared to controls, which indicates the possible role of oxidative stress in triggering migraine attacks.