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Migraine and Inhibitory System – I Can't Hold It!

  • Imaging (A DaSilva, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The exact pathophysiological mechanisms leading to the activation and sensitization of the trigeminovascular pathway, which in turns results in the migraine attack, are not completely elucidated. It is likely that direct activation by cortical spreading depression, together with dysfunctional central control of pain, plays a major role in the onset and spreading of the migraine attack. This review focuses on recent structural and functional neuroimaging studies that investigated the role of subcortical and cortical structures in modulating nociceptive input in migraine, which outlined the presence of an imbalance between inhibitory and excitatory modulation of pain processing in the disease.

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Conflict of Interest

Dr. Caterina Mainero and Dr. Celine Louapre each declare no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 Thirteenth Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA

    Caterina Mainero & Celine Louapre

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Caterina Mainero & Celine Louapre

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  1. Caterina Mainero
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  2. Celine Louapre
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Correspondence to Caterina Mainero.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Imaging

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Mainero, C., Louapre, C. Migraine and Inhibitory System – I Can't Hold It!. Curr Pain Headache Rep 18, 426 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-014-0426-3

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