[The morphometric analysis of serotonin granules of platelets in migraine].

The serotonin hypothesis of migraine attack is based on a phenomenon of fast and significant decreasing of serotonin granules in blood platelets. The morphometric analysis was used to study area, diameter, length and wideness of platelet serotonin granules in 20 migraine patients during a headache attack and in an interparoxysmal period. We found that the area of serotonin granule surface in platelets was 0.231 +/- 0.595 mcm during the migraine attack that was significantly higher than that during the interparoxysmal period (0.205 +/- 0.037 mcm) and in the platelets of healthy controls (0.190 +/- 0.028 mcm) (n = 10). The study has shown that during migraine attack serotonin granules are undergone also structural changes.

The role of serotonin in the pathogenesis and clinical presentations of migraine attacks.

The Fontana-Masson method was used in 63 migraine patients to stain peripheral blood thrombocytes and measure the numbers of serotonin granules within them during the interictal period and, in 33 patients, during and 24, 48, and 72 h after migraine attacks. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used in 19 patients during attacks to study dissolved serotonin concentrations in serum. During the interictal period, high contents of serotonin granules per 100 blood thrombocytes were found (469.3 +/- 22.4), which was not significantly different from the level in healthy subjects (447.9 +/- 19.6). At the peak of attacks, serotonin contents decreased to 47.7 +/- 7.4, while the dissolved serotonin concentration, conversely, increased to 345.5 +/- 39.1 ng/ml (compared with serum serotonin levels of 184.2 +/- 12.3 ng/ml in healthy subjects). During the first and subsequent time points after migraine attacks, thrombocyte serotonin levels returned to baseline. These data provide evidence of impairment of serotonin stored in thrombocytes during migraine attacks and its release into the plasma, which may provide a laboratory method for monitoring the development of migraine attacks.

[The role of serotonin in the pathogenesis and clinical presentations of migraine attack].

Peripheral blood platelets of 63 patients with migraine were stained by the Fontana-Masson method and serotonin (S) granules were determined in the interictal period, i.e. in 33 patients during the migraine attack and 24, 48 and 72 h after. Using immunoassay techniques ELIZA, concentration of soluble S (ng/ml) in the blood serum of 19 patients with migraine was analyzed during an attack of cephalgia. The high quantity of S granules per 100 platelets was found in the interictal period (469,3+/-22,4) that differed significantly from that of the control group (447,9+/-19,6). At the peak of attack, serotonin content decreased to 47,7+/-7,4 and concentration of soluble S increased to 345,5+/-39,1 ng/ml (in controls, the S content in the blood serum was 184,2+/-12,3 ng/ml). The content of platelet S reached the initial values during the first and the following days after the migraine attack. The data suggest the dysfunction related to S release from platelets to the blood plasma during migraine attack that may be used as an instrumental method for monitoring of its development.