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Emerging relevance of circadian rhythms in headaches and neuropathic pain
Author(s) -
Burish Mark J.,
Chen Zheng,
Yoo SeungHee
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
acta physiologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.591
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1748-1716
pISSN - 1748-1708
DOI - 10.1111/apha.13161
Subject(s) - circadian rhythm , cluster headache , neuroscience , circadian clock , medicine , clock , dark therapy , chronobiology , neuropathic pain , disease , chronic pain , migraine , bioinformatics , psychology , biology
Circadian rhythms of physiology are the keys to health and fitness, as dysregulation, by genetic mutations or environmental factors, increases disease risk and aggravates progression. Molecular and physiological studies have shed important light on an intrinsic clock that drives circadian rhythms and serves essential roles in metabolic homoeostasis, organ physiology and brain functions. One exciting new area in circadian research is pain, including headache and neuropathic pain for which new mechanistic insights have recently emerged. For example, cluster headache is an intermittent pain disorder with an exceedingly precise circadian timing, and preliminary evidence is emerging linking several circadian components (eg, Clock and Nr1d1 ) with the disease. In this review, we first discuss the broad metabolic and physiological relevance of the circadian timing system. We then provide a detailed review of the circadian relevance in pain disease and physiology, including cluster headache, migraine, hypnic headache and neuropathic pain. Finally, we describe potential therapeutic implications, including existing pain medicines and novel clock‐modulating compounds. The physiological basis for the circadian rhythms in pain is an exciting new area of research with profound basic and translational impact.