Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The autopsy report of Ludwig van Beethoven written by Dr Johann Wagner in 1827 reveals that he had renal calculi that had not been diagnosed during his lifetime, together with perirenal fibrosis. The most comprehensive interpretation of this autopsy finding is that the regular calcareous deposits in every one of his renal calices represented calcified necrotic papillae. Severe urinary obstruction or diabetes as possible causes of papillary necrosis were not present. Analgesic abuse because of headaches, back pain, and attacks of rheumatism or gout may be presumed on the basis of Beethoven's uncontrolled way of taking medication. Salicin, a commonly used analgesic substance of that time (dried and powdered willow bark), is able to cause papillary necrosis. Perirenal fibrosis may be due to chronic infection or drug intake. Beethoven's other well-known diseases are deafness caused by otosclerosis of the inner ear, relapsing attacks of diarrhea as the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, and liver cirrhosis following viral hepatitis and chronic alcohol consumption. Liver cirrhosis also may cause papillary necrosis. In Beethoven's case, renal papillary necrosis was most probably the consequence of analgesic abuse together with decompensated liver cirrhosis. The autopsy report of Beethoven is the first case of papillary necrosis recorded in the literature.
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PMID:Beethoven's renal disease based on his autopsy: a case of papillary necrosis. 850 20

Salicin from willow bark has been used throughout centuries in China and Europe for the treatment of pain, headache, and inflammatory conditions. Recently, it could be demonstrated that salicin binds and activates the bitter taste receptor TAS2R16. Studies on rodent tissues showed the general expression of bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) in rodent brain. Here, we demonstrate the expression of hTAS2R16 in human neuronal tissues and the neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y. The functionality was analyzed in the neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y after stimulation with salicin, a known TAS2R16 agonist. In this setting salicin induced in SH-SY5Y cells phosphorylation of ERK and CREB, the key transcription factor of neuronal differentiation. PD98059, an inhibitor of the ERK pathway, as well as probenecid, a TAS2R16 antagonist, inhibited receptor phosphorylation as well as neurite outgrowth. These data show that salicin might modulate neurite outgrowth by bitter taste receptor activation.
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PMID:Salicin from Willow Bark can Modulate Neurite Outgrowth in Human Neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y Cells. 2609 5