Central and peripheral mechanisms in migraine

Prof. Anthony Dickenson (University College London, United Kingdom) focused on similarities and differences between migraine and other types of chronic pain. He talked about central and peripheral mechanisms in migraine and explained that pain needs a peripheral drive for central processing. Pain is a sensory and emotional response. In migraine, there is evidence for peripheral and central sensitisation. Peripheral sensitisation, a reduced threshold for stimulation of the peripheral sensory neurons, contributes to the pathophysiology of chronic migraine. He showed his audience the changes that occur in the brain, the altered functional MRI resting-state connectivity in periaqueductal grey networks in migraine (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Altered functional MRI in the brain in migraine [1]

Copyright © 2011 American Neurological Association - Reused with permission from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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   1. Mainero C, et al. Ann Neurol. 2011 Nov;70(5):838-45.

Posted on 15 March 201919 November 2021