- Title
- Can resveratrol supplementation mitigate hormonal migraine?
- Creator
- Dzator, Jemima Selorm Akosua
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Migraine is a neurovascular disorder that is estimated to affect 10% of the global population. Approximately half of female migraineurs suffer from hormonal migraine, which is characterised by a painful migraine that occurs within a few days of the onset of menstruation. These migraines are more painful, recurrent and resistant to current treatment options than regular migraines and are triggered by the rapid decrease of estrogen that precedes menstruation. Estrogen is particularly important for maintaining proper cerebrovascular function and interestingly, migraine is associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular disease. However, it is unclear if migraine or more specifically, hormonal migraine, is associated with cerebrovascular dysfunction. In light of this, it is unclear if improvements of cerebrovascular function in hormonal migraineurs can prevent hormonal migraine. This thesis is comprised of three studies across four chapters to address these gaps in the literature. The first study (Chapter 2) in this thesis is a systematic review and meta-analysis that investigated whether migraine is associated with poor cerebrovascular function. Findings from this review showed that migraineurs have poorer cerebrovascular function than controls as represented by higher intracranial stiffness and lower cerebrovascular responsiveness to hypercapnia in the posterior circulation. Interestingly, migraineurs also had higher resting cerebral blood flow velocity than controls in the anterior and posterior circulations. The second study (Chapter 4) in this thesis is a cross-sectional comparative study conducted in 50 hormonal migraineurs and 29 controls. Participants visited the Clinical Nutrition Research Centre at the University of Newcastle, Australia, on one occasion for measurements of cerebrovascular function using transcranial Doppler ultrasound. The hormonal migraineurs included in this cross-sectional study had poorer cerebrovascular function than controls as represented by lower resting cerebral blood flow velocity and lower neurovascular coupling capacity in the anterior circulation during a cognitive task. The third study (Chapters 5 and 6) is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover intervention trial conducted in 62 hormonal migraineurs who consumed both 75 mg trans-resveratrol twice daily for three months and a placebo supplement for 3 months. Resveratrol is a phytoestrogen with demonstrated beneficial effects on cerebrovascular function in older adults. I hypothesised that resveratrol supplementation would improve the deficiencies of cerebrovascular function that were observed in Chapter 4 and prevent hormonal migraine, reduce migraine-related disability and improve migraine-related quality of life. However, no differences in the average number of hormonal migraine days per month or migraine-related disability and quality of life were found between the resveratrol and placebo treatments (Chapter 5). Additionally, ten participants underwent further testing at baseline and after each of the 3-month intervention periods to investigate effects of resveratrol supplementation on cerebrovascular function (Chapter 6). This pilot study detected minimal change in cerebrovascular function; resting cerebral blood flow velocity in the posterior circulation was higher following resveratrol supplementation when compared to placebo. This thesis makes several contributions to knowledge: firstly, both migraineurs and hormonal migraineurs have poorer cerebrovascular function than controls; secondly, taking a low dose of resveratrol twice daily does not alter migraine frequency, reduce migraine-related disability or improve migraine-related quality of life in hormonal migraineurs; thirdly, pilot data indicates that resveratrol supplementation for three months has a minor effect on cerebrovascular function in hormonal migraineurs. A larger, longitudinal study is needed to fully ascertain and confirm the effects of resveratrol supplementation on the cerebrovascular function of hormonal migraineurs.
- Subject
- cerebrovascular function; hormonal migraine; resveratrol; migrane
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1470101
- Identifier
- uon:48380
- Rights
- Copyright 2023 Jemima Selorm Akosua Dzator
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 8 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 374 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |