Annals of neurology
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Annals of neurology · Jan 2001
Is there a correlation between spreading depression, neurogenic inflammation, and nociception that might cause migraine headache?
The time course of propagation of scotoma and blood flow changes during migraine aura parallels the phenomenon of cortical spreading depression (CSD). It was proposed that CSD generates a sterile neurogenic inflammation in the meninges, which may then lead to the activation or sensitization of nociceptors, thus generating headache. We performed rat experiments in which the effect of CSD on plasma extravasation in the dura mater and on neuronal activity in deep laminae of the trigeminal nucleus was assessed in vivo. ⋯ In 33 rats, neither single CSDs nor a series of CSDs altered ongoing neuronal activity or mechanical and/or thermal sensitivity of the deeply located neurons to stimulation of their receptive fields in the dura mater. These results are at variance with data that showed increased c-Fos labeling in superficial laminae of the trigeminal nucleus following CSD. They do not suggest that CSD initiates migraine headache via neurogenic inflammation.