How does migraine treatment work? - The role of nitric oxide in dural artery sensation

Dr Geoff Lambert (Chief Investigator) and Dr Alessandro Zagami, Department of Neurology, Prince Henry Hospital

This research was funded by a Clinical Neuroscience Research Grant from NM Rothschild & Sons.

This is a study of pain perception from blood vessels in the head – vessels that are involved in the pain of migraine.

The project examines the way in which pain perception can be influenced by the unique “messenger molecule” nitric oxide, and how that influence may in turn be modified by anti-migraine drugs. Our results have shown that blocking the production of nitric oxide by the brain blocks the ability of the sensory system to transmit several types of pain signals from blood vessels of the head and that providing the brain with an alternative source of nitric oxide enhances this ability.

These effects work on the same system that is involved in migraine pain and our results also show that all of these effects can be influenced by new and potent anti-migraine drugs. Our results show that nitric oxide is critical in the development of the pain of migraine and suggest that drugs targeted at nitric oxide may prove to be better and more specific than the anti-migraine drugs currently in use.