resolutionminibeagle
 
 «...seeing a dog and horse and man yawn, makes me feel how much all animals are built on one structure»
Charles Darwin
1838
 
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mise à jour du 8 mai 2003
Cephalalgia
2002; 22; 624-632  
lexique
What is the evolutionary advantage of migraine ?
A Loder
Headache and Pain Management Programs, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and Hamard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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3 et 4 octobre 1833. - Un violent mal de tête m'oblige à garder le lit pendant deux jours. Une bonne vieille femme qui me soigne me presse d'essayer une quantité de singuliers remèdes. La plupart du temps, on fixe à chaque tempe du malade une feuille d'oranger ou un morceau de taffetas noir ; il est encore plus usuel de couper une fève en deux, d'humecter ces moitiés et d'en placer une sur chaque tempe, où elles adhèrent facilement. On ne croit pas qu'il soit convenable d'enlever les fèves ou le taffetas ; on les laisse jusqu'à ce qu'ils tombent naturellement. Quelquefois, si on demande à un homme qui a des morceaux de taffetas sur la tête ce qu'il a bien pu se faire, il vous répond : "J'avais la migraine avant-hier."
Charles Darwin Voyage d'un naturaliste autour du Monde à bord du Beagle de 1831 à 1836

October 3rd and 4th 1833. - I was confined for these two days to my bed by a headache. A good natured old woman, who attended me, wished me to try many odd remedies. A common practice is, to bind an orange-half or a bit of black plaster to each temple: and a still more general plan is, to split a bean into halves, moisten them, and place one on each temple, where they will easily adhere. It is not thought proper, ever to remove the beans or plaster, but to allow them to drop off, and sometimes, if a man, with patches on his head, is asked, what is the matter? he will answer: "I had a headache the day before yesterday."

Charles Darwin A naturalist voyage round the World (on the Beagle 1831 - 1836)
 
 
Charles Darwin was beset throughout his adult life by recurrent, disabling headaches, and would today almost certainly be diagnosed as suffering from migraine. Yet there is no record that he ever speculated on what might be, as described by his theory of natural selection, the evolutionary advantage of migraine. [...] With him originated the now commonly accepted (but then radical) idea of 'heritable variability' in living creatures, with its implications of an unbroken chain of life extending back to a common ancestor for man and every other creature that ever lived.

Along with this Darwin developed what is often referred to as the doctrine of 'selection of the fittest': the idea that the forces of natural selection will favour traits that confer on their possessor the most 'fitness' for the environment. Creatures possessing different traits that adapt thern more or less well to their environment will in consequence have different reproductive and survival rates. Even a trait that offers only a slight advantage will, over millions of years of evolution, be strongly selected for, while traits which reduce reproductive fitness even slightly will ultimately be eliminated. Several lines of evidence make clear that susceptibility to migraine is to a large extent genetic, and therefore a trait upon which evolutionary forces must act.

Susceptibility to migraine is determined by genetic factors and is therefore subject to the forces of natural selection. Migraine is a common and ancient disorder whose prevalence may be increasing, suggesting that a migraine-prone nervous system may be associated with reproductive or survival advantages. Five evolutionary explanations are reviewed that might account for the persistence of migraine: (1) migraine as a defence mechanism; (2) migraine as a result of conflict with other organisms; (3) migraine as result of novel environmental factors; (4) migraine as a trade-off between genetic harms and benefits; and (5) migraine as a design constraint. An evolutionary perspective on migraine allows the generation of important hypotheses about the disorder and suggests rewarding possibilities for further research.

 
Charles Darwin, célèbre migraineux, ne semble pas s'être posé la question découlant de l'application de la théorie qu'il proposait, originale pour l'époque, et maintenant largement acceptée: quel est l'avantage procurée par la migraine en terme d'évolution ? Connue depuis que les hommes laissent des écrits relatant leurs souffrances, la migraine n'a pas disparue et semble même augmentée de fréquence dans les populations caucasiennes. Ceci suggère un ou des avantages reproductifs et de survie des porteurs de ce trouble. A Loder propose, dans son article, 5 perspectives évolutionnistes concernant la migraine:
  • la migraine participe aux défenses de l'organisme; la connaissance de la douleur améliore la survie en prévenant les risques de blessures et autres dommages par crainte de la douleur qu'ils engendrent. La susceptibilité sensorielle (luminosité, odeurs) optimise la perception des situations à risques.
  • la migraine est, par ses successions vasomotrices opposées, le résultat d'une adpatation favorable face à une éventuelle cause infectieuse.
  • la migraine est le un trait génétique récemment apparu que l'évolution n'a pas encore ou n'a pas de bénéfice à voir disparaître.
  • la migraine est le revers des bénéfices génétiquement induits par les avantages que d'autres gènes associés procurent au porteur.
  • la migraine témoigne d'un conflit entre structures cérébrales de phylogénèse évolutive différente : diencéphale - aires corticales.
Conclusion

An evolutionary view of headache and its biological and behavioural correlates suggests the right questions to ask about migraine and its persistence over millions of years of evolution. The process of natural selection, acting upon the countless CNS variations offered up at random by nature, has settled on genes which promote easy activation of the trigeminovascular system. While some of the hypotheses examined in this paper may seem fanciful or far-fetched, they help to illustrate the way in which we should be thinking about migraine in the context of evolution. Many of the clinical manifestations of the migraine-prone nervous system might then be recognized as adaptive, even in the face of the costs associated with an increased susceptibility to headache.

It is noteworthy that the theory of evolution, which provides the fundamental explanation for the existence of migraine, may in part owe its origin to Darwin's own headaches. For although lie was never moved to speculate on the broader evolutionary advantages of headache, it is clear that headaches provided Darwin with a socially acceptable reason te, avoid many unwanted social and academic obligations. The consequent lack of distraction provided time for the lengthy reflection, reading and synthesis of ideas necessary to discern the fundamental organizing principle of all life.

'It was the life of an invalid and what freedom it brought! Charles Darwin never sat on committees, never went to official dinners, saw only the people he wanted to see, read only the books he wanted to read. Philosophy and religion he found brought on a headache at once. As the great man lay on the sofa he was not idle. His mind was at work, and it was in those long hours of silence and solitude, lying on his sofa, meditating, that Darwin reached his bold conclusions. He himself expressdl his most valuable quality as "unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject". For his long reflecting he needed his sofa.'

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