Effects of reserpine on amino-acid excretion in patients with migraine.

Typical migraine headaches have been consistently induced by the administration of reserpine to migrainous patients. In such patients an increase in urinary excretion of histidine and lysine has been reported to accompany attacks of migraine (Kimball and Friedman, 1961; Menkes, 1964). These aminoacids have also been found in the oedema fluid which accumulates near the temporal arteries of patients during attacks of migraine headaches (Wolff, 1963). These observations suggest that reserpine-induced headaches may be a means of studying migraine. The present study, therefore, was undertaken to test whether the aminoaciduria of spontaneous migraine could be reproduced with reserpine; and to study what relation, if any, exists between the aminoaciduria and the clinical symptoms of migraine headaches.