Plasma lactic acid and pyruvic acid levels in migraine and tension-type headache.

We examined the lactic and pyruvic acid levels in the plasma of 14 patients with migraine, 17 patients with tension-type headache, and 12 normal controls. The lactic and pyruvic acid levels in the plasma of the migraine patients were significantly higher than those of the normal controls (9.6 +/- 5.0 mg/dL and 0.51 +/- 0.30 mg/dL versus 3.3 +/- 1.9 mg/dL and 0.26 +/- 0.20 mg/dL, respectively). There were no significant differences in the levels between the patients with tension-type headache and normal controls. Our results suggest that migraine patients may have functional abnormalities in mitochondrial energy metabolism.