Pathophysiology of Migraine


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BORAN H. E., Bolay H. B.

NOROPSIKIYATRI ARSIVI-ARCHIVES OF NEUROPSYCHIATRY, vol.50, pp.1-7, 2013 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Review
  • Volume: 50
  • Publication Date: 2013
  • Doi Number: 10.4274/npa.y7251
  • Journal Name: NOROPSIKIYATRI ARSIVI-ARCHIVES OF NEUROPSYCHIATRY
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Page Numbers: pp.1-7
  • Keywords: Migraine, aura, cortical spreading depression, cortical excitability, trigeminovascular system, CORTICAL SPREADING DEPRESSION, FAMILIAL HEMIPLEGIC MIGRAINE, TRIGEMINAL NUCLEUS CAUDALIS, BRAIN-STEM ACTIVATION, TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION, PERIAQUEDUCTAL GRAY, OCCIPITAL CORTEX, FUNCTIONAL MRI, C-FOS, RESPONSE PROPERTIES
  • Gazi University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Migraine is a serious health problem which impair quality of life. It is the second most common primary headache that affects approximately more than %10 people in general population. Migraine pathophysiology is still unclear. Increasing results of studies suggest to migraine pathophysiology is related with primary neuronal mechanisms. Migraine pain starts in which region of brain and what brain regions are activated in different stages is unenlightened. There is evidences that growing number of studies which using new imaging techniques as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonans imaging (fMRI) show that migraine and cluster headaches are related with neuronal structures and vasodilatation. There are four phases to a migraine. The prodrome phase, aura, the attack, and the postdrome phase. Some datas obtained from last ten years indicate that cortical excitability has increased in interictal phase too. For many years, studies in rodents show trgimenial nerve is activated and it leads to vasodilatation and neurogenic inflammation in the headache phase. Although the majority of patients encountered in clinical practice are migraine without aura or chronic migraine, experimental studies of the migraine pathophysiology are focusing on the aura model which is used cortical spreading depression.