Biomedical subjects

N Giffin

Publications and source records attributed to N Giffin.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Abnormal habituation of 'nociceptive' blink reflex in migraine--evidence for increased excitability of trigeminal nociception.

We studied the habituation of the 'nociceptive' blink reflex (nBR) in 15 healthy subjects and 17 migraine patients interictally as well as during unilateral migraine headache within six hours of onset and after treatment. In healthy volunteers the mean regression coefficient (MRC) was - 3.9 following right sided and - 4.9 left sided stimulation. This equals an amplitude loss of 19.5% (5 x -3.9) and 24.5% (5 x -4.9), respectively, across five consecutive sweeps. An augmentation of nBR responses was found in migraine patients interictally: MRC = 3.3 following stimulation of the headache side (HA) and MRC = 4.0 of the non-headache side (non-HA). The differences were statistically significant (anova: d.f. = 1, F = 25.8, P < 0.001). During the migraine attack MRCs were negative both before (-5.0, HA and - 4.0, non-HA) and after treatment (-2.6, HA and - 1.9 non-HA) and significantly differed from those outside the migraine attack (anova: d.f. = 2, F = 12.4, P < 0.001). The demonstrated lack of habituation of the nBR responses indicates an abnormal trigeminal nociceptive processing in migraine patients outside the migraine attack.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Surfing for headache.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗

PubMed2001

Eletriptan: pharmacological differences and clinical results.

The potential advantages of eletriptan lie firstly in its lipophilicity reflected as an increased rate of absorption and Tmax compared to sumatriptan. This is manifested in a modest advantage over sumatriptan in terms of speed of onset, 2 h headache response and 2 h pain free. However, eletriptan has not yet been shown to have an advantage over the other triptans for lack of head-to head comparisons. It does not appear to have an advantage over sumatriptan for headache recurrence. The second advantage is the partial agonist activity at the 5-HT(1B) receptor, reducing the potential for cardiovascular side-effects compared to the other triptans. Although no serious cardiovascular events have yet been recognized, eletriptan should still be used with extreme caution for patients with cardiovascular risk factors.

Humans↗

PubMed1989

Transient expression of laminin immunoreactivity in the developing rat hippocampus.

We have isolated and characterized a polyclonal antibody that recognizes the extracellular matrix glycoprotein laminin. In the developing rat hippocampus, in addition to staining the basal laminae of blood vessels and the glia limitans, this antibody detects a punctate deposit of non-basal lamina laminin that appears transiently, disappearing on E18. The punctate laminin is distributed throughout the hippocampus from the border of the ependyma and the neuropil to the pial surface, but is particularly concentrated in the presumptive molecular layer (marginal zone). Electron microscopy showed that the punctate laminin was in the extracellular space on the surfaces of cell bodies and, more commonly, their processes. In double-labelling experiments in which neurites were labelled with tau or MAP2 antibodies, there were occasional cases where neurites came into direct contact with punctate laminin. These observations suggest a role for laminin in hippocampal development and possibly in neurite outgrowth.

Animals↗