In a new study, researchers have found a new link between migraine headaches and opioid overuse.
The finding may be key to treating pain.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Illinois at Chicago and elsewhere.
About 10% of the world population suffers from migraine headaches, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
To alleviate migraine pain, people are commonly treated with opioids.
But, while opioid treatment can provide temporary pain relief for episodic migraines, prolonged use can increase the frequency and severity of painful migraines.
Researchers have tried to understand how opioids cause this paradoxical increase in pain for a decade, but the mechanism remained elusive — until now.
In the study, the team discovered that a peptide — small chains of amino acids that can regulate many behaviors and brain signaling pathways — links together migraine pain and pain induced by opioid overuse.
They say that endorphin is an example of a peptide that signals the brain to give a ‘runner’s high.’ However, not all peptides signal for pleasant outcomes.
Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide, or PACAP, is a peptide that can induce migraines in migraine-prone individuals.
Because the overuse of opioids can lead to worse migraines, it is important to see whether opioid-induced pain changed the amounts of peptides in the brain and if the pain from migraines and opioid overuse shared any peptides in common.
The researchers found that PACAP is a factor in opioid-induced pain. It is also clear that the PACAP increase was seen in major pain processing sites of the brain.
These findings provide strong evidence that PACAP is involved in both migraine and opioid-overuse pain. They can inform the development of real-world treatments.
This research may benefit people suffering from non-migraine pain as well, as people with chronic pain also experience opioid-induced pain after overuse.
The lead author of the study is Amynah Pradhan, an associate professor of psychiatry at the College of Medicine.
The study is published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.
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