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Internal and Emergency Medicine
Published in: Internal and Emergency Medicine 4/2015

01-06-2015 | IM - REVIEW

Fathoming the kynurenine pathway in migraine: why understanding the enzymatic cascades is still critically important

Authors: Martina Curto, Luana Lionetto, Francesco Fazio, Dimos-Dimitrios Mitsikostas, Paolo Martelletti

Published in: Internal and Emergency Medicine | Issue 4/2015

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Abstract

Kynurenine pathway, the quantitatively main branch of tryptophan metabolism, has been long been considered a source of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, although several of its products, the so-called kynurenines, are endowed with the capacity to activate glutamate receptors, thus potentially influencing a large group of functions in the central nervous system (CNS). Migraine, a largely unknown pathology, is strictly related to the glutamate system in the CNS pathologic terms. Despite the large number of studies conducted on migraine etio-pathology, the kynurenine pathway has been only recently linked to this disease. Nonetheless, some evidence suggests an intriguing role for some kynurenines, and an exploratory study on the serum kynurenine level might be helpful to better understand possible alterations of the kynurenine pathway in patients suffering from migraine.
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Metadata
Title
Fathoming the kynurenine pathway in migraine: why understanding the enzymatic cascades is still critically important
Authors
Martina Curto
Luana Lionetto
Francesco Fazio
Dimos-Dimitrios Mitsikostas
Paolo Martelletti
Publication date
01-06-2015
Publisher
Springer Milan
Published in
Internal and Emergency Medicine / Issue 4/2015
Print ISSN: 1828-0447
Electronic ISSN: 1970-9366
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-015-1208-6

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