• Kenneth J Sufka, Stephanie M Staszko, Ainslee P Johnson, Morgan E Davis, Rachel E Davis, and Todd A Smitherman.
• Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, 38677, USA. pysufka@olemiss.edu.
• J Headache Pain. 2016 Jan 1; 17: 40.

BackgroundThis research sought to further validate the rat nitroglycerin (NTG) migraine model by comparing the effects of single versus recurrent NTG episodes on behavioral endpoints that mirror ICHD-3 diagnostic criteria for migraine, and to determine if the altered behavioral endpoints are reduced after administration of sumatriptan.MethodsSeparate cohorts of rats were administered NTG (10 mg/kg/2 ml) or saline (Experiment 1: single injection; Experiment 2: repeated injections; Experiment 3: repeated injections with sumatriptan [0.0, 0.3 and 1.0 mg/kg/ml] rescue. Behavioral endpoints were assessed 2 h after final NTG administration and included time in light/dark chambers for photophobia and activity, pain facial ratings, and cool (5 °C) and warm (46 °C) tail dip.ResultsThe first two experiments demonstrated that repeated (n = 5) but not single NTG injections produced photophobia, decreased activity, and yielded less weight gain than saline injections. Experiment 3 showed that sumatriptan attenuated hypoactivity, reduced facial expressions of pain, and reversed weight alterations in a dose-dependent manner.ConclusionsThese findings identify numerous clinical homologies of a recurrent NTG rat migraine model that may be useful for screening novel pharmacotherapies.

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