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From CSD to headache: A long and winding road

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Migraine sufferers experience pounding headaches, which sometimes are preceded by a visual aura. Now Bolay et al. show that cortical-spreading depression, the cause of the aura, activates trigeminal afferents, which act to cause inflammation of the pain-sensitive meninges, generating the headache. (pages 136–142)

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Figure 1: The relationship between CSD and headache in migraine with aura. CSD releases H+, K+ and other agents, including arachidonic acid (AA) and nitric oxide (NO), in the extracellular space of the neocortex.

Bob Crimi

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neurobiology Department of Neurology and Neuroscience Weill Medical Center of Cornell University, New York, New York, USA

    Costantino Iadecola

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  1. Costantino Iadecola
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Iadecola, C. From CSD to headache: A long and winding road. Nat Med 8, 110–112 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0202-110

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