Association study between the phenotype migraine without aura-panic disorder and dopaminergic receptor genes

Clinical and epidemiological evidence suggests that migraine often co-occurs with psychopathological conditions. Several longitudinal and population-based studies have suggested that migraine and panic disorder might share a common predisposition. An abnormal dopaminergic function has been hypothesized to be involved as etiological factor in panic disorder as well as in migraine. Epidemiological and molecular data suggest the role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of both migraine and panic attack disorder. We assessed the presence of panic disorder in 100 probands suffering from migraine without aura and the present study was designed to analyse the possible association of the migraine-panic phenotype with dopaminergic genes. In our sample, 17 out of 100 migraineurs were affected by panic disorder and were thus considered for the genetic association study. The allele frequencies of DRD1, DRD3, DRD5, DRD2 in probands did not differ from that of parental non-transmitted chromosomes. This result does not seem to support, in our limited sample, a common pathological basis, with regard to the dopaminergic system, between migraine and panic. Should migraine and panic disorder share some common mechanisms, these could be sought in neuro-chemical systems other than the dopaminergic one.