| Studying Similar Neurological Disorders | |
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For some time, doctors have observed that several episodic neurological disorders such as paroxysmal dyskinesia, periodic paralysis, episodic ataxia, epilepsy, hemiplegic Migraine and common Migraine share some common triggers. Research data has just been released to support this observation.
A press release from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) reports:
"A new study shows that a mouse model can be used to investigate how these substances and environmental factors trigger symptomatic attacks. The researchers also identified two drugs that can prevent attacks of such disorders in mice.
The study is the first to use mice to investigate triggers of episodic attacks, which are much more difficult to study in humans. Though the symptoms of episodic disorders vary, the fact that many of them share the same trigger factors may suggest a common disease mechanism."1
The study was conducted by the Neurology Department at Johns Hopkins Hospital and funded in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The study has been documented in an article to appear in the August, 2002, issue of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior2. Dr. Ellen Hess, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins is the senior author.
Dr. Hess and the other researchers studied a strain of mice with a gene mutation that causes them to have several attacks of dyskinesia several times daily. The mutation affects calcium ion channels and is known in mice as "tottering syndrome." The symptoms of tottering syndrome are similar to the human disorder paroxysmal dyskinesia. The mice were exposed to some of the more common human triggers of human episodic neurological disorders — caffeine, ethanol, and stress. All three of these triggers generated attacks in the mice, showing that mice with tottering syndrome can be used to study the effects of environmental factors on humans.
In addition, the researchers tested two calcium channel blocking medications on the mice, finding that they could prevent attacks in the mice.
Brandy Fureman, Ph.D., of the NINDS stated:
We can use the mouse model to understand how triggers work in single gene disorders, which are fairly rare, and then apply the information to more prevalent episodic disorders, like common migraine ... The study opens up a whole new way to look at triggers of attacks. Stress, caffeine and alcohol are factors we've all known about for years, but we still haven't figured out why they can cause certain symptoms in certain people"
Perhaps the best news to come from the study is that it may have far reaching results in human prevention. As Dr. Hess commented:
"The next step is to start testing drugs that we think can interfere with
those three triggers to stop the neurological dysfunction in humans."
1 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
2
Fureman BE, Jinnah HA, Hess EJ. "Triggers of paroxysmal dyskinesia in the calcium channel mouse mutant tottering." Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior Vol. 73, No. 2, pp.631-637, August 2002.for a printer-friendly version of
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