Catecholamine response to exercise in migraine

Catecholamine (CA) response to exercise was studied in patients with common (16 cases) or classic (7 cases) migraine as well as in subjects with lumbar disc disease (20 control cases). In migrainous patients exercise induced constantly a rise in epinephrine (E) urinary excretion and a depression in norepinephrine (NE) excretion; the post-exercise E excretion represented the double or the treble of basal E excretion. In controls the pattern of CA response to exercise was opposite to that noted in migraineurs: the exercise induced in almost all controls an augmentation in NE excretion and a depression in E excretion. The pattern of CA response to exercise of migrainous patients is similar to that noted in them after light exposure. As such patients responded by an E discharge to both exercise and light exposure, two conditions preceding quite often the onset of migraine attack, the data suggest the participation of this biochemical abnormality in the pathogeny of migraine. The interpretation is also supported by our previous data demonstrating that the antimigraine drugs are able to prevent the E discharge induced in migrainous patients by light exposure.