The trigeminovascular system in humans: pathophysiologic implications for primary headache syndromes of the neural influences on the cerebral circulation.
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Primary headache syndromes, such as cluster headache and migraine, are widely described as vascular headaches, although considerable clinical evidence suggests that both are primarily driven from the brain. The shared anatomical and physiologic substrate for both of these clinical problems is the neural innervation of the cranial circulation. Functional imaging with positron emission tomography has shed light on the genesis of both syndromes, documenting activation in the midbrain and pons in migraine and in the hypothalamic gray in cluster headache. These areas are involved in the pain process in a permissive or triggering manner rather than as a response to first-division nociceptive pain impulses. In a positron emission tomography study in cluster headache, however, activation in the region of the major basal arteries was observed. This is likely to result from vasodilation of these vessels during the acute pain attack as opposed to the rest state in cluster headache, and represents the first convincing activation of neural vasodilator mechanisms in humans. The observation of vasodilation was also made in an experimental trigeminal pain study, which concluded that the observed dilation of these vessels in trigeminal pain is not inherent to a specific headache syndrome, but rather is a feature of the trigeminal neural innervation of the cranial circulation. Clinical and animal data suggest that the observed vasodilation is, in part, an effect of a trigeminoparasympathetic reflex. The data presented here review these developments in the physiology of the trigeminovascular system, which demand renewed consideration of the neural influences at work in many primary headaches and, thus, further consideration of the physiology of the neural innervation of the cranial circulation. We take the view that the known physiologic and pathophysiologic mechanisms of the systems involved dictate that these disorders should be collectively regarded as neurovascular headaches to emphasize the interaction between nerves and vessels, which is the underlying characteristic of these syndromes. Moreover, the syndromes can be understood only by a detailed study of the cerebrovascular physiologic mechanisms that underpin their expression. (+info)
Cardiovascular and neuronal responses to head stimulation reflect central sensitization and cutaneous allodynia in a rat model of migraine.
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Reduction of the threshold of cardiovascular and neuronal responses to facial and intracranial stimulation reflects central sensitization and cutaneous allodynia in a rat model of migraine. Current theories propose that migraine pain is caused by chemical activation of meningeal perivascular fibers. We previously found that chemical irritation of the dura causes trigeminovascular fibers innervating the dura and central trigeminal neurons receiving convergent input from the dura and skin to respond to low-intensity mechanical and thermal stimuli that previously induced minimal or no responses. One conclusion of these studies was that when low- and high-intensity stimuli induce responses of similar magnitude in nociceptive neurons, low-intensity stimuli must be as painful as the high-intensity stimuli. The present study investigates in anesthetized rats the significance of the changes in the responses of central trigeminal neurons (i.e., in nucleus caudalis) by correlating them with the occurrence and type of the simultaneously recorded cardiovascular responses. Before chemical stimulation of the dura, simultaneous increases in neuronal firing rates and blood pressure were induced by dural indentation with forces >/= 2.35 g and by noxious cutaneous stimuli such as pinching the skin and warming > 46 degrees C. After chemical stimulation, similar neuronal responses and blood pressure increases were evoked by much smaller forces for dural indentation and by innocuous cutaneous stimuli such as brushing the skin and warming it to >/= 43 degrees C. The onsets of neuronal responses preceded the onsets of depressor responses by 1.7 s and pressor responses by 4.0 s. The duration of neuronal responses was 15 s, whereas the duration of depressor responses was shorter (5.8 s) and pressor responses longer (22.7 s) than the neuronal responses. We conclude that the facilitated cardiovascular and central trigeminal neuronal responses to innocuous stimulation of the skin indicate that when dural stimulation induces central sensitization, innocuous stimuli are as nociceptive as noxious stimuli had been before dural stimulation and that a similar process might occur during the development of cutaneous allodynia during migraine. (+info)
Quantitative structure-activity relationships for nasal pungency thresholds of volatile organic compounds.
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A model was developed for describing the triggering of nasal pungency in humans, based on the partition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) between the air phase and the biophase. Two partition parameters are used in the model: the water-air partition coefficient and the octanol-water partition coefficient. The model was validated using data from the literature, principally on alcohols, acetates and ketones. The model suggests that all test compounds, regardless of their chemical functional groups, bind to a common receptor site within the hydrophobic interior of the bilayer membrane of the trigeminal nerve endings. There is probably only a slight, non-specific interaction between the VOC molecule and the receptor molecule, whereas this type of non-specific interaction for the detection of odor is much stronger. In practical terms, the suggestion that all VOCs share a common irritation receptor site implies that nasal-pungency thresholds of individual VOCs may be additive. Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) for nasal-pungency thresholds were also developed from the model, which can be used to predict nasal-pungency thresholds of common VOCs. Although the present model does not offer additional precision over that of M.H. Abraham et al., 1996, Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 31, 71-76, it requires fewer descriptors and offers a physiological basis to the QSAR. Another advantage of the present model is that it also provides a basis for comparison between the olfactory process and nasal pungency. (+info)
Trigeminal and carotid body inputs controlling vascular resistance in muscle during post-contraction hyperaemia in cats.
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1. In anaesthetized cats, the effects of stimulation of the receptors in the nasal mucosa and carotid body chemoreceptors on vascular resistance in hindlimb skeletal muscle were studied to see whether the responses were the same in active as in resting muscle. The measurements of vascular resistance were taken, first, in resting muscle, and second, in the immediate post-contraction hyperaemic phase that followed a 30 s period of isometric contractions. 2. Stimulation of the receptors in the nasal mucosa caused reflex apnoea and vasoconstriction in muscle. The latter response was attenuated when the test was repeated during post-contraction hyperaemia. 3. Stimulations of the carotid bodies were made during a period of apnoea evoked reflexly by electrical stimulation of both superior laryngeal nerves. This apnoea prevented any effects of changes in respiration on the carotid body reflex vascular responses. Stimulation of the carotid bodies evoked hindlimb muscle vasoconstriction. In the post-contraction hyperaemic period, the response was reduced or abolished. A similar attenuation of the reflex vasoconstrictor responses occurred in decentralized muscles stimulated through their motor roots in the cauda equina. 4. Evidence is presented that the attenuation of the vasoconstrictor responses evoked by the two reflexes is a phenomenon localized to the contracting muscles themselves resulting from an interaction between sympathetic neuronal activity and the local production of metabolites. 5. The results are discussed in relation to the metabolic needs of tissues in relation to asphyxial defence mechanisms such as occur in the diving response. (+info)
Trigeminal nerve ganglion stimulation-induced neurovascular reflexes in the anaesthetized cat: role of endothelin(B) receptors in carotid vasodilatation.
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1. The effects of intravenous administration of endothelin (ET) receptor antagonists SB-209670 (0.001-10.0 mg kg(-1)), SB-217242, SB-234551 (0.01-10.0 mg kg(-1)) and BQ-788 (0.001-1.0 mg kg(-1)) were investigated on trigeminal nerve ganglion stimulation-induced neurovascular reflexes in the carotid vasculature of the anaesthetized cat. Comparisons were made with sumatriptan (0.003-3.0 mg kg(-1)) and alpha-CGRP8-37 (0.001-0.1 mg kg(-1)). 2. Trigeminal nerve ganglion stimulation produced frequency related increases in carotid blood flow, reductions in carotid vascular resistance and non-frequency related increases in blood pressure. Guanethidine (3 mg kg(-1), i.v.) blocked trigeminal nerve ganglion-induced increases in blood pressure but had no effect on changes in carotid flow or resistance. Maximal reductions in carotid vascular resistance was observed at 10 Hz, and this frequency was selected to investigate the effects of drugs on trigeminal nerve ganglion stimulation-induced responses in guanethidine treated cats. 3. Saline, alpha-CGRP8-37 SB-209670 and BQ-788 had little or no effect on resting haemodynamic parameters. SB-217242 (10 mg kg(-1), n=3) produced a 56% reduction in arterial blood pressure whereas SB-233451 (10 mg kg(-1), n=3) produced a 30% reduction in carotid vascular resistance. Sumatriptan produced dose-related reductions in resting carotid flow and increases (max. 104% at 0.3 mg kg(-1), n = 5) in vascular resistance. 4. SB-209670 (n=6-7), SB-217242 (n=3) and BQ-788 (n=3) produced inhibition of trigeminal nerve ganglion stimulation-induced reductions in carotid vascular resistance. Saline, SB-234551, alpha-CGRP8-37 and sumatriptan had no effect. 5. These data demonstrate ET(B) receptor blockade attenuates the vasodilator effects of trigeminal nerve ganglion stimulation in the carotid vascular bed of guanethidine pretreated anaesthetized cats. (+info)
Properties of conditioned abducens nerve responses in a highly reduced in vitro brain stem preparation from the turtle.
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Previous work suggested that the cerebellum and red nucleus are not necessary for the acquisition, extinction, and reacquistion of the in vitro classically conditioned abducens nerve response in the turtle. These findings are extended in the present study by obtaining conditioned responses (CRs) in preparations that received a partial ablation of the brain stem circuitry. In addition to removing all tissue rostral to and including the midbrain and cerebellum, a transection was made just caudal to the emergence of the IXth nerve. Such ablations result in a 4-mm-thick section of brain stem tissue that functionally eliminates the sustained component of the unconditioned response (UR) while leaving only a phasic component. We refer to this region of brain stem tissue caudal to the IXth nerve as the "caudal premotor blink region." Neural discharge was recorded from the abducens nerve following a single shock unconditioned stimulus (US) applied to the ipsilateral trigeminal nerve. When the US was paired with a conditioned stimulus (CS) applied to the posterior eighth, or auditory, nerve using a delay conditioning paradigm, a positive slope of CR acquisition was recorded in the abducens nerve, and CR extinction was recorded when the stimuli were alternated. Resumption of paired stimuli resulted in reacquisition. Quantitative analysis of the CRs in preparations in which the caudal premotor blink region had been removed and those with cerebellar/red nucleus lesions showed that both types of preparations had abnormally short latency CR onsets compared with preparations in which these regions were intact. Preparations with brain stem transections had significantly earlier CR offsets as more CRs terminated as short bursts when compared with intact or cerebellar lesioned preparations. These data suggest that a highly reduced in vitro brain stem preparation from the turtle can be classically conditioned. Furthermore, the caudal brain stem is not a site of acquisition in this reduced preparation, but it contributes to the sustained activity of both the UR and CR. Finally, the unusually short CR onset latencies following lesions to the cerebellum are not further exacerbated by removal of the caudal brain stem. These studies suggest that convergence of CS and US synaptic inputs onto the abducens nerve reflex circuitry may underlie acquisition in this reduced preparation, but that mechanisms that control learned CR timing arise from the cerebellorubral system. (+info)
MR imaging of Dejerine-Sottas disease.
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We report the MR findings in two patients with clinically and histologically proved Dejerine-Sottas disease. One patient had spinal involvement with multiple thickened and clumped nerve roots of the cauda equina; the second had multiple enlarged and enhancing cranial nerves. Although these findings are not specific for Dejerine-Sottas disease, they are suggestive of the diagnosis, which is further corroborated with history and confirmed with sural nerve biopsy and laboratory studies. (+info)
Trigeminal nerve and brainstem catecholamine systems in cerebral vasospasm.
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Cisternal blood injection in the rat and squirrel monkey produces a biphasic cerebral vasospasm, a decrease in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and an increase in glucose uptake (CMRglu) due to an anaerobic glucolysis actually representing a decrease in metabolism. Lesioning of the A2-nucleus, its ascending cathecolamine pathways or their projection site, the median eminence in the hypothalamus, prevents the occurrence of spasm. A unilateral postganglionic trigeminal lesion causes an ipsilateral constriction of the cerebral arteries while a preganglionic lesion does not affect the baseline arterial diameter. Both kinds of trigeminal lesions induce a global increase in glucose uptake of about 50% without influencing CBF. Following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) the decrease in CBF in both groups of lesioned animals is similar to that seen in controls. After SAH there is no further change in CMRglu in the animals with a preganglionic lesion, while in the postganglionically lesioned animals there is an additional increase in CMRglu of about 50% as compared to controls or animals with a preganglionic lesion. Treatment with the peptidergic substance P (SP) antagonist, spantide, or gammaglobulin against SP prevents or significantly reduces the degree of spasm and the changes in flow and metabolism normally seen post-SAH. The non-peptidergic neurokinins NK1 and NK3 antagonists do not influence flow and metabolism in SAH animals. The NK2 seems to change both flow and metabolism post-SAH in rats. (+info)