Relationship between PON1 phenotype and headache duration in migraine patients

Aim: The available data on the activity of paraoxonase-1 (PON1) in patients suffering from migraine without aura (MWoA) is scarce. The present study was conducted to fulfill the objective of investigating the probability of an association between PON1 phenotype distribution and headache duration in patients suffering from MWoA. Materials and methods: Seventy-six patients who suffer from MWoA and were not experiencing attacks at the time and 65 healthy volunteers were enrolled for the purpose of evaluation in the present study. Results: The levels of serum paraoxonase, arylesterase activities, and lipid hydroperoxide (LOOH) were determined for these subjects. The results obtained revealed that no statistical differences existed between the group suff ering from MWoA and the control group with respect to the PON1 activity and the phenotype distribution (all values of P 0.05), while the levels of serum LOOH were noted to be higher (P 0.05) in the patient group. However, a signifi cant relation was found between the PON1192QR phenotype distribution and headache duration in patients suff ering from MWoA (P 0.001). It was observed that patients with the PON1192RR (BB = homozygous high activity) polymorphism had headaches of shorter duration than patients with the PON1192QQ (AA = homozygous low activity) and PON1192QR (AB = heterozygous intermediate activity) polymorphisms. Along with these results, significant negative correlations were found between the ratio of salt-stimulated paraoxonase/arylesterase and headache duration (r: -0.40, P 0.001) in patients suffering from MWoA in comparison to the control group. Finally, the activities of both paraoxonase and arylesterase were found to be inversely correlated with the levels of serum LOOH in the patient group [(r: -0.23, P 0.05) and (r: -0.27, P 0.05), respectively]. Conclusion: The results ascertained through the present study suggest that a significant correlation exists between PON1 phenotype distribution and headache duration in patients suffering from MWoA. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the association between PON1 polymorphism and headache duration in patients with migraine. PON1 phenotype distribution will play a key role in headache duration in patients with migraine.