Erythrocyte Choline Levels in Cluster Headache

Lithium is known to be beneficial in the treatment of cluster headache (CH) [4, 9, 11,13]. Patients with both episodic and chronic forms of CH show a high degree of improvement with it, although the mode of action of lithium in this condition is unknown. Lithium treatment has, however, been shown to markedly elevate erythrocyte choline levels in manic-depressive patients where it is also used in treatment [6, 7]. In addition, choline levels prior to treatment differ significantly between controls and manic-depressive patients, as well as between controls and two other conditions which have been investigated, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome and dementia [1, 3, 5,6,8]. In view of these observations, we have measured choline levels in erythrocytes and plasma of CH patients in comparison with age-matched controls to establish whether abnormal choline levels also occur in this condition.