Being deprived of rapid eye movement sleep might play a role in migraine, U. S. researchers have said.

Led by Paul Dunham, researchers at Missouri State University's Center for Biomedical & Life Sciences in Springfield have found that sleep deprivation lead to changes in the levels of key proteins that in turn make possible events that may bring on migraine.

Dunham said in a statement, "We found that REM sleep deprivation caused increased expression of the proteins p38, PKA and P2X3, which are known to play an important role in initiating and sustaining chronic pain."

They used a model of sleep deprivation and migraine established by previous clinical data and measured levels of proteins that lower the activation threshold of peripheral and central nerves involved in pain transmission during migraine, Dunham and colleagues further notified.

It was further informed that findings were reported at the American Headache Society's 52nd annual scientific meeting in Los Angeles. (With inputs from Agencies)