Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0016053 (fibromyalgia)
 4,687 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To test the hypothesis that plasma tryptophan and/or its transport ratio is decreased in primary fibromyalgia (PF), we measured plasma tryptophan and its transport ratio in 29 patients with PF and 30 healthy controls without significant pain, in a blinded manner. Twenty-one other amino acids were also similarly analyzed among these study subjects. Transport ratio of tryptophan was found to be significantly (p less than 0.01) decreased in PF compared with the control group (0.09 +/- 0.02 vs 0.10 +/- 0.02). Plasma tryptophan level was lower in PF (45 +/- 10 nmol/ml) than in healthy controls (51 +/- 15 nmol/ml), showing a trend towards significance (p less than 0.09). Additionally, plasma histidine and serine levels were found to be significantly (p less than 0.01) lower in patients with PF than in controls. Our results suggest that a decreased brain serotonin level, as possibly reflected by a decreased transport ratio of plasma tryptophan, may play a pathophysiologic role in PF.
 ...
PMID:Plasma tryptophan and other amino acids in primary fibromyalgia: a controlled study. 155 7

Free plasma tryptophan levels in patients with fibrositis syndrome were measured by Moldofsky and Warsh with the view that the pathogenesis of fibrositis syndrome might involve a functional deficiency of serotonin. The hypothesis was supported by the finding of an inverse relationship between tryptophan concentration and the severity of musculoskeletal pain. Our study examined the total serum amino acid pool in fibrositis syndrome. Twenty patients with primary fibrositis syndrome and matched normal controls were evaluated clinically. After denaturation of macromolecules, serum amino acids were quantitated by automated analysis. Patients with fibrositis syndrome exhibited significantly lower levels of total serum tryptophan (p = 0.002), as well as 6 other amino acids: alanine (p less than 0.0005), histidine (p = 0.001), lysine (p = 0.02), proline (p = 0.039), serine (p = 0.028), and threonine (p = 0.013). These findings support the serotonin deficiency hypothesis for fibrositis syndrome pathogenesis but also imply a more generalized defect in amino acid homeostasis among affected individuals.
 ...
PMID:Serum amino acids in fibrositis/fibromyalgia syndrome. 260 10

Patients with the fibrositis syndrome experience moderately severe musculoskeletal discomfort, mood changes associated with nonrestorative sleep, and tenderness to palpation at specific body sites. There is no characteristic abnormal laboratory finding in these patients to help identify the population. A report by Moldofsky and Warsh (Pain 1978; 5: 65-71) of low serum levels of free tryptophan in patients with severe fibrositis syndrome is intriguing but remains unexplained. Those data plus the observation by Hudson et al (Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142: 441-446; Biol Psychiatry 1984; 19: 1489-1493) that patients with fibrositis syndrome exhibit an increased prevalence of anxiety and depression suggest a number of possible avenues for further study. They include potential alterations in the homeostasis of catecholamines, corticosteroids, serotonin, aromatic amino acids, platelet membrane receptor levels, and the activity of platelet membrane monoamine oxidase. Among these possibilities, evidence is now available that suggests an increased production of catecholamines in fibrositis syndrome.
 ...
PMID:Is there a metabolic basis for the fibrositis syndrome? 346 8

Aspects of sleep stage evaluation and analysis of alpha and delta EEG frequencies in sleep were shown to be related to musculo-skeletal pain and mood disturbance in patients with 'fibrositis syndrome'. Patients were treated at bedtime for 3 weeks with either chlorpromazine, 100 mg (8 patients), or L-tryptophan, 5 g (7 patients). Chlorpromazine, but not L-tryptophan, was associated with increased slow wave sleep and amelioration of pain and mood symptoms. Mean percent time/min or mean percent power/min of alpha frequency during NREM and REM sleep corrlated with overnight increase in pain measures, hostility, and decrease in energy. On the other hand, mean percent time/min of delta in NREM sleep was related to overnight decrease in pain and mean percent delta power/min was associated with decreased anxiety and hostility, and increased energy.
 ...
PMID:The relationship of alpha and delta EEG frequencies to pain and mood in 'fibrositis' patients treated with chlorpromazine and L-tryptophan. 615 93

Considerable evidence has accrued in the last two decades to support the hypothesis that alterations in serotonergic neuronal function in the central nervous system occur in patients with major depression. These findings include the following: (a) reduced cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), the major metabolite of serotonin (5-HT) in drug-free depressed patients; (b) reduced concentrations of 5-HT and 5-HIAA in postmortem brain tissue of depressed and (or) suicidal patients; (c) decreased plasma tryptophan concentrations in depressed patients and a profound relapse in remitted depressed patients who have responded to a serotonergic antidepressant when brain tryptophan availability is reduced; (d) in general, all clinically efficacious antidepressants augment 5-HT neurotransmission following chronic treatment; (e) clinically efficacious antidepressant action by all inhibitors of 5-HT uptake; (f) increases in the density of 5-HT2 binding sites in postmortem brain tissue of depressed patients and suicide victims, as well as in platelets of drug-free depressed patients; (g) decreased number of 5-HT transporter (determined with [3H]imipramine or [3H]paroxetine) binding sites in postmortem brain tissue of suicide victims and depressed patients and in platelets of drug-free depressed patients. In our studies, this reduction in platelet 5-HT transporter binding is not due to prior antidepressant treatment of hypercortisolemia and is not observed in mania, Alzheimer disease, schizophrenia, panic disorder, fibromyalgia, or atypical depression. In a pilot study, this deficit predicted treatment response to an experimental antidepressant. These findings support the hypothesis that alterations in 5-HT neurons play a role in the pathophysiology of depression.
 ...
PMID:Role of serotonin in the pathophysiology of depression: focus on the serotonin transporter. 1949 50

Eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS) has been related to intake of "contaminated" L-tryptophan, and an alteration in tryptophan 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, serotonin) metabolism has been reported in EMS patients. Recently we found that a defined autoantibody pattern consisting of antibodies to nucleoli, gangliosides, and phospholipids is closely related to the fibromyalgia syndrome (FS) which clinically resembles the EMS. We were therefore interested to see whether these antibodies can also be detected in patients with EMS. Studied were 27 patients with acute EMS (13 of whom were also examined 2 years after acute onset), 100 patients with FS, and 40 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS). As controls, sera from 100 blood donors were analyzed. Antibodies to nucleoli were demonstrated by immunofluorescence test on cell cultures in 52% of patients with acute EMS, 62% of patients with chronic EMS, and 37% of FS patients. Western blotting with a nuclear extract from HeLa cells revealed in both diseases the same epitopes at 63, 57, and 53 kDa. Antibodies to 5-HT, gangliosides (Gm1), and phospholipids were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Among patients with FS 73% had antibodies to 5-HT, in contrast to only 19% of patients with acute EMS. However, 77% of the 13 EMS patients analyzed 2 years later had become anti-5-HT antibody positive during that time. Also the incidence of antibodies to Gm1 increased from 37% at acute onset to 69% in patients with chronic EMS (30%). The various antibodies were detected in only 18% of healthy controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:A comparative study on antibodies to nucleoli and 5-hydroxytryptamine in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and tryptophan-induced eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. 798 84

The symptom of intolerance to low levels of environmental chemicals (CI, chemical intolerance) is a feature of several controversial polysymptomatic conditions that overlap symptomatically with depression and somatization, i.e., chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity, and Persian Gulf syndrome. These syndromes can involve many somatic symptoms consistent with possible inflammation. Immunological or neurogenic triggering might account for such inflammation. Serum neopterin, which has an inverse relationship with l-tryptophan availability, may offer a marker of inflammation and macrophage/monocyte activation. This study compared middle-aged women with CI (who had high levels of affective distress; n = 14), depressives without CI (n = 10), and normals (n = 11). Groups did not differ in 4 p.m. resting levels of serum neopterin. However, the CI alone had strong positive correlations between neopterin and all of the scales measuring somatization. These preliminary findings suggest the need for additional research on biological correlates of 'unexplained' multiple somatic symptoms in subtypes of apparent somatizing disorders.
 ...
PMID:Serum neopterin and somatization in women with chemical intolerance, depressives, and normals. 970 17

5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is the intermediate metabolite of the essential amino acid L-tryptophan (LT) in the biosynthesis of serotonin. Intestinal absorption of 5-HTP does not require the presence of a transport molecule, and is not affected by the presence of other amino acids; therefore it may be taken with meals without reducing its effectiveness. Unlike LT, 5-HTP cannot be shunted into niacin or protein production. Therapeutic use of 5-HTP bypasses the conversion of LT into 5-HTP by the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase, which is the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of serotonin. 5-HTP is well absorbed from an oral dose, with about 70 percent ending up in the bloodstream. It easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and effectively increases central nervous system (CNS) synthesis of serotonin. In the CNS, serotonin levels have been implicated in the regulation of sleep, depression, anxiety, aggression, appetite, temperature, sexual behaviour, and pain sensation. Therapeutic administration of 5-HTP has been shown to be effective in treating a wide variety of conditions, including depression, fibromyalgia, binge eating associated with obesity, chronic headaches, and insomnia.
 ...
PMID:5-Hydroxytryptophan: a clinically-effective serotonin precursor. 972 88

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder manifested by diffuse myalgia, localized areas of tenderness, fatigue, lowered pain thresholds, and nonrestorative sleep. Evidence from multiple sources support the concept of decreased flux through the serotonin pathway in fibromyalgia patients. Serotonin substrate supplementation, via L-tryptophan or 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), has been shown to improve symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia and somatic pains in a variety of patient cohorts. Identification of low serum tryptophan and serotonin levels may be a simple way to identify persons who will respond well to this approach.
 ...
PMID:Fibromyalgia and the serotonin pathway. 980 12

The serotonergic system has repeatedly been discussed to be involved in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia (FM), which is a syndrome of widespread pain and sleep disturbance. Elevated levels of substance P (SP), a mediator of nociception, have been described in FM. In this study the possible relationship between SP and serotonin (5-HT) together with its precursor tryptophan (TRP) and its metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) was evaluated in 51 serum samples of fibromyalgia patients. These parameters were compared with clinical data such as pain intensity or sleep quality. A strong negative correlation between SP and 5-HIAA (P = .000) as well as between SP and TRP (P = .009) could be demonstrated. High serum concentrations of 5-HIAA and TRP showed a significant relation to low pain scores (5-HIAA: P = .030; TRP: P = .014). Moreover, 5-HIAA was strongly related to good quality of sleep (P = .000), while SP was related to sleep disturbance (P = .005). These data are valid to support the hypothesis of a systemic involvement of 5-HT and SP in fibromyalgia.
 ...
PMID:Relationship of substance P, 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid and tryptophan in serum of fibromyalgia patients. 1002 91


1 2 3 4 Next >>