Severe hemiplegic migraine attack precipitated by fentanyl sedation for esophagogastroscopy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Holger Kaube.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Our ability to have an experience of another's pain is characteristic of empathy. Using functional imaging, we assessed brain activity while volunteers experienced a painful stimulus and compared it to that elicited when they observed a signal indicating that their loved one--present in the same room--was receiving a similar pain stimulus. Bilateral anterior insula (AI), rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), brainstem, and cerebellum were activated when subjects received pain and also by a signal that a loved one experienced pain. AI and ACC activation correlated with individual empathy scores. Activity in the posterior insula/secondary somatosensory cortex, the sensorimotor cortex (SI/MI), and the caudal ACC was specific to receiving pain. Thus, a neural response in AI and rostral ACC, activated in common for "self" and "other" conditions, suggests that the neural substrate for empathic experience does not involve the entire "pain matrix." We conclude that only that part of the pain network associated with its affective qualities, but not its sensory qualities, mediates empathy.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review describes rare headaches that can occur at night or during sleep, with a focus on cluster headaches, paroxysmal hemicrania, short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing, hypnic headache and exploding head syndrome. RECENT FINDINGS: It is known that cluster headaches and hypnic headache are associated with rapid eye movement sleep, as illustrated by recent polysomnographic studies. Functional imaging studies have documented hypothalamic activation that is likely to be of relevance to circadian rhythms. These headache syndromes have been shown to respond to melatonin and lithium therapy, both of which have an indirect impact on the sleep-wake cycle. SUMMARY: There is growing evidence that cluster headache and hypnic headache are chronobiological disorders.
The term migraine is derived from the ancient Greek word hemicrania introduced by Galen in approximately 200 AD. However, descriptions of "sick headache" have been found dating back to as far as 3000 BC. Despite this, migraine is a condition that still remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. The development of effective abortive agents, such as the triptans, have had a significant impact on migraine management, but there still remains a substantial proportion of migraineurs in whom further medication is required in the form of preventatives. These have the potential to transform the lives of many migraine sufferers.
A 38-year-old woman is described with symptomatic strictly right-sided migraine associated with a pontine cavernoma affecting the contralateral (left) nucleus raphe magnus. A persistent facilitation of the right-sided trigeminal nociception was detected interictally using the 'nociception specific' blink reflex, which was more pronounced during the acute attack. This case shows for the first time, an impairment of the anti-nociceptive brainstem nuclei and the facilitation of the trigeminal nociception in the same subject, thus providing further evidence for the key role of the brainstem raphe nuclei in the pathophysiology of migraine.
The pain of migraine is often throbbing suggesting an important role for the cranial blood vessels and their innervation by the trigeminal nerve. It is proposed that clinically effective anti-migraine compounds, such as 5-HT(1B/1D) agonists, have actions that include inhibiting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) release from trigeminal nerves. Human studies suggest that histamine can induce migraine possibly by activating nitric oxide (NO) synthase to promote endogenous NO production. The present studies investigated the effect of histamine and its antagonists on the cranial blood vessels using intravital microscopy to assess directly the diameter of dural arteries in sodium pentobarbitone anaesthetised rats. Electrical stimulation of a closed cranial window produces, by local depolarisation of nerves, dural vessel dilation that is monitored continuously on-line using video-microscopy and a video dimension analyser. Histamine infusion caused immediate and reproducible dilation of meningeal blood vessels (103.5+/-6%; n=40) that could be blocked by H(1)- (mepyramine) and H(2) (famotidine)-receptor antagonists (P<0.05), as well as a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methylester; P<0.05). Neurogenic dural vasodilation was not inhibited by H(2)-receptor antagonists, but was significantly inhibited by a H(1)-receptor antagonist at the high dose of 10 mg/kg. The present studies demonstrate that histamine is likely to activate NO synthase to promote NO production. There is also evidence that H(1)-receptors may be present on trigeminal neurones as the H(1)-receptor antagonist inhibited neurogenic vasodilation, albeit at a large dose.
Migraine is characteristically accompanied by a throbbing quality of head pain thought to involve trigeminovascular afferents. Administration of nitric oxide (NO) donors provides the most reliable model of migraine induction in humans. The present studies used intravital microscopy to monitor the effect of local meningeal nerve stimulation and NO on dural blood vessels and any modulation of that effect by anti-migraine compounds. NO caused an immediate and reproducible dilation of meningeal blood vessels that was partially blocked by sumatriptan and indomethacin, while flunarizine and histamine H(1) and H(2) receptor antagonists were unable to block the dilation. Indomethacin also inhibited the neurogenic dilation while flunarizine did not. The present studies demonstrate that NO is unlikely to interact with histamine to produce its dilatory response. Sumatriptan and indomethacin inhibit the NO response by inhibiting trigeminal activation and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) release. Flunarizine does not modify either the neurogenic vasodilator response or the NO meningeal dilator response at least acutely.
The discovery of mis-sense mutations in the alpha1A subunit of the P/Q-type calcium channel in patients with familial hemiplegic migraine indicates the potential involvement of dysfunctional ion channels in migraine. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) region of the brainstem modulates craniovascular nociception and, through its role in the descending pain modulation system, may contribute to migraine pathophysiology. In this study we sought to investigate the possible link between the genetic mutations found in migraineurs and the PAG as a modulator of craniovascular nociception. We microinjected the P/Q-type calcium-channel blocker omega-agatoxin IVA into the rat ventrolateral PAG (vlPAG). We examined its effect on the nociceptive transmission of second-order neurons recorded in the trigeminal nucleus caudalis and activated by stimulation of the parietal dura mater. After injection of agatoxin into the vlPAG (n = 20) responses to dural stimulation were facilitated by 143% (p < 0.0001) for Adelta-fiber activity and 180% for C-fiber activity (p < 0.05). Similarly, spontaneous background activity increased by 163% (p < 0.0001). These results demonstrate that P/Q-type calcium channels in the PAG play a role in modulating trigeminal nociception and suggest a role for dysfunctional P/Q-type calcium channels in migraine pathophysiology.
Migraine is currently regarded as a neurovascular disorder of trigeminal sensory processing, generated centrally, probably at the level of the brainstem. In the past, electrophysiological techniques have drawn no definite conclusions on either interictal or ictal changes in migraineurs compared with controls, largely because of methodological differences. Recently, two findings have been shown consistently: an interictal increasing lack of habituation of evoked potentials with a normalization at the start of the attack and strong intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials. These findings substantiate migraine sufferers as having an abnormal trait interictally, with the attack characterized by a change in the state of central processing. Exploitation of these differences may be a useful tool to study the mechanism of action of drugs used for the treatment of migraine.
The R3 component of the blink reflex can reproducibly be evoked by noxious stimulation but can probably also be elicited by innocuous stimuli. This study was conducted to investigate the contribution of nociceptive A delta and C fibers to the generation of the electrically evoked R3 blink reflex. Electrical thresholds for detection, pain and all blink reflex components were determined and the modulatory effects of local anesthesia were investigated. The electrical R3 threshold of 4.6 +/- 0.5 mA (mean +/- SE) corresponded to 2.9 times the detection threshold and to 0.35 times the pain threshold. The R3 threshold was significantly below the pain threshold. Under local anesthesia of the supraorbital skin with a complete loss of warm and cold sensation, a loss of pinprick sensation, but a normal detection of tactile stimuli, the electrical pain threshold increased, all other thresholds remained unchanged. Under local anesthesia none of the reflex components were significantly reduced. Cutaneous A beta fibers and nociceptive A delta fibers, but not unmyelinated C fibers, contribute to the generation of the electrically evoked R3 component. According to the recruitment order in peripheral sensory nerves the electrical threshold of the R3 is mainly determined by activation of A beta fibers. Thus, it can not be assumed that the electrically evoked R3 is an adequate model to investigate nociceptive processing.