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Biologists Link Locust Comas with Human Migraine
February 8, 2024
The way locusts react to stress may provide an important clue to understanding what causes human migraines and how to reduce their painful effects, says Queen’s Biology professor Mel Robertson. With PhD student Corinne Rodgers, Dr. Robertson is using insect models to examine how the nervous system controls breathing when stress is induced through high temperatures and oxygen deprivation. They have discovered that the locust’s reaction to extreme heat is very similar to a disturbance in mammals that has been associated with human migraines and stroke.
As a way of temporarily shutting down and conserving energy when conditions are dangerous, the locust’s coma has many of the same characteristics seen in people at the onset of a migraine. “We feel there may be an evolutionary link between the two,” Dr. Robertson suggests.
His team’s findings are published on-line in the journal PLoS ONE.
The study monitors locust breathing cycles, which are controlled by a collection of nerve cells in the central nervous system. With heat or lack of oxygen, the insects initially breathe more quickly and then go into a coma. They recover when the temperature comes down again, or oxygen levels rise.
Source: Queen's University
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