Neurophysiology of Cranial Headache

描述（由申请人提供）：头痛综合征，如偏头痛是所有医学问题中最常见的，但其原因知之甚少。伴随颅内病变的头痛以及偏头痛被认为是由颅内脑膜中感觉神经纤维的激活或敏化引起的。脑膜感觉通路中的神经元一直是许多神经生理学研究的主题。然而，还没有人研究过在引起人类头痛的条件下的神经元。在过去的项目期间，我们已经开发了研究的活动和硬脑膜初级传入神经元在几个小时内的机械敏感性的变化的方法。我们现在建议使用这些方法来研究与人类头痛相关的两种疾病发展过程中的神经元：脑膜炎和一氧化氮诱导的偏头痛。将使用单单位记录来研究麻醉大鼠中这些神经元的放电特性。在实验性脑膜炎的发展过程中，以及在应用一氧化氮供体诱导的变化过程中，将研究单个神经元的变化。这些信息对于确定这些神经元在头痛中的作用以及识别可能导致头痛的神经活动变化类型至关重要。然后，这些信息可以用于制定阻止导致头痛的神经变化的策略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Headache syndromes such as migraine are among the most common of all medical problems, but their causes are poorly understood. The headaches that accompany intracranial pathologies as well as the headache of migraine are thought to result from activation or sensitization of sensory nerve fibers in the intracranial meninges. Neurons in the meningeal sensory pathway have been the subject of numerous neurophysiological studies. However, no one has studied the neurons under conditions that cause headache in humans. During the past project period; we have developed methods for studying changes in activity and mechanosensitivity of dural primary afferent neurons over period of several hours. We now propose to use these methods to study the neurons during the development of two conditions that are associated with headache in humans: meningitis, and nitric oxide-induced migraine headache. Single unit recording will be used to study the discharge properties of these neurons in anesthetized rats. Changes in single neurons will be studied during the development of experimental meningitis, and during the changes induced by application of nitric oxide donors. This information is critically important for establishing the role of these neurons in headache, and for identifying the types of changes in neural activity that might contribute to headache. This information can then be used to develop strategies for blocking the neural changes that result in headache.