USE OF HPLC TO MEASURE CIRCULATING ADENOSINE LEVELS IN MIGRAINOUS PATIENTS

Adenosine is a powerful natural vasodilator that could be involved in migraine. It is difficult to assay this nucleoside, however, because i t has a short half-life. We have used HPLC to compare the concentratio ns of blood adenosine sampled in crisis-free intervals and during cris is periods in ten patients with common migraine and have compared thes e levels to those noted in a control population. Our sampling techniqu e uses vacuum suction and enables rapid mixing of the blocking solutio n and whole venous blood. This results in reproducible HPLC assays. We also show that, during a migraine crisis, mean blood adenosine levels increase by 47%. However, the origin of this adenosine release is dif ficult to define.