Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is regarded as a key mediator in the generation of primary headaches. CGRP receptor antagonists reduce migraine pain in clinical trials and spinal trigeminal activity in animal experiments. The site of CGRP receptor inhibition causing these effects is debated. Activation and inhibition of CGRP receptors in the trigeminal ganglion may influence the activity...

1 Premotor Neurons Targeting the Trigeminal Motor Nucleus 2 3 Shiro Nakamura, Kiyomi Nakayama, Ayako Mochizuki, Fumihiko Sato, 4 Tahsinul Haque, Atsushi Yoshida and Tomio Inoue 5 6 Department of Oral Physiology, Showa University School of Dentistry, 1-5-8 7 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan and Department of Oral Anatomy 8 and Neurobiology, Osaka University Graduate School of Denti...

In the mouse trigeminal pathway, sensory inputs from distinct facial structures, such as whiskers or lower jaw and lip, are topographically mapped onto the somatosensory cortex through relay stations in the thalamus and hindbrain. In the developing hindbrain, the mechanisms generating such maps remain elusive. We found that in the principal sensory nucleus, the whisker-related map is contribute...

The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution of cells in the medial reticular formation (MRF) and the pontomedullary locomotor strip (PLS), which can induce locomotion when activated. Controlled microinjections of neuroactive substances (Goodchild et al., 1982) into the MRF or PLS were made in order to activate cell bodies in those areas. The ability of trigeminal receptive field...

In this study, we examined the topography of projections from facial afferents to the trigeminal brainstem nuclear complex (TBNC) in naked mole-rats using the neuronal tracer CTB-HRP. Tracer injections were made in a ventral to dorsal sequence that included the tooth pulp and dental ligament, ventral buccal pad, vibrissae, and the forehead. Labeled terminals were identified throughout the rostr...

For the past 25 years, it has been hotly debated whether cortical spreading depression (CSD), the underlying mechanism of aura, can trigger migraine headache through activation of the trigeminovascular pain pathway. According to one school of thought, CSD leads to a cascade of molecular events (1) that activate pain fibers in meningeal areas overlying the affected cortices (2). According to ano...

Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias are highly disabling primary headache disorders, characterized by severe unilateral head pain and associated ipsilateral cranial autonomic features. There is limited understanding of their pathophysiology and how and where treatments act to reduce symptoms; this is significantly hindered by a lack of animal models. We have developed the first animal model to ex...

Neurotensin immunofluorescence was examined in the rat central nervous system using a well-characterized antiserum directed against this tridecapeptide. Morphological characteristics of the fluorescence indicate its association with neuronal cell bodies and processes in the brain and with cells of the anterior pituitary. Fluorescence is seen in many brain areas, with notable densities in the su...

Using a specific radioimmunoassay, we have found that immunoreactive (ir) a-neo-endorphin has a widespread and unique distribution in the rat brain and spinal cord. The highest concentration in brain is in the substantia nigra (1692.1 fmol/mg of protein). Very high concentrations of ir-a-neoedorphin (X00 fmol/mg of protein) are also found in the lateral preoptic nucleus, dentate gyrus, parabrac...