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The following is a summary of “Tryptophan metabolites and gut microbiota play an important role in pediatric migraine diagnosis,” published in the January 2024 issue of Pain by Liu et al.
Muddy waters of pediatric migraine diagnosis may clear with clues from gut bacteria regulating brain-linked tryptophan metabolism.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to shed light on the gut-brain tango between microbiota, tryptophan metabolism, and pediatric migraine, seeking diagnostic biomarkers.
They analyzed the gut microbiota of 33 children with migraines and 42 healthy children under 10 years old from the GMrepo database. Shannon index, Simpson index, principal coordinates analysis, and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were included in the analysis. Diagnostic microbial biomarkers were identified through linear discriminant analysis effect size, ridge regression, and random forest. Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, compare tryptophan metabolite levels in 51 pediatric migraines and 120 healthy children (<18 years). Conducted ROC analysis to assess biomarker diagnostic value in pediatric migraines.
The results showed differences in gut microbiota composition in pediatric migraine children, particularly in genera regulating tryptophan metabolism. A significant decrease in plasma kynurenic acid levels (P<0.001) in migraine children, coupled with a noteworthy increase in serotonin (P<0.05) and quinolinic acid (P<0.001). Normal reference intervals for plasma concentrations of tryptophan metabolites in children were established. The kynurenic acid to quinolinic acid ratio (AUC: 0.871, sensitivity: 86.3%, specificity: 83.3%) demonstrated excellent diagnostic efficacy for pediatric migraine.
They concluded that gut bacteria linked to childhood migraines via altered tryptophan, suggesting potential for microbial diagnosis.
Source: thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-023-01708-9
