Journal
JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN
Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages 159-166Publisher
SPRINGEROPEN
DOI: 10.1007/s10194-011-0415-4
Keywords
Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP); Headache; Brain activity; Functional MRI; Sumatriptan; BOLD
Categories
Funding
- University of Copenhagen
- Danish Headache Society
- Lundbeck Foundation Center for Neurovascular Signaling (LUCENS)
- Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation
- Danish Council for Independent Research-Medical Sciences (FSS) [271-08-0446]
- Merck Co., Inc. [33936]
- Allergan Inc
- AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
- Boehringer Ingelheim
- Eli Lilly
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Janssen Pharmaceutical Products
- Lundbeck
- Merck
- Pfizer
- Norpharma
- AstraZeneca
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To test the hypothesis that calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) modulates brain activity, we investigated the effect of intravenous CGRP on brain activity in response to a visual stimulus. In addition, we examined if possible alteration in brain activity was reversed by the anti-migraine drug sumatriptan. Eighteen healthy volunteers were randomly allocated to receive CGRP infusion (1.5 mu g/min for 20 min) or placebo. In vivo activity in the visual cortex was recorded before, during and after infusion and after 6 mg subcutaneous sumatriptan by functional magnetic resonance imaging (3 T). 77% of the participants reported headache after CGRP. We found no changes in brain activity after CGRP (P = 0.12) or after placebo (P = 0.41). Sumatriptan did not affect brain activity after CGRP (P = 0.71) or after placebo (P = 0.98). Systemic CGRP or sumatriptan has no direct effects on the BOLD activity in visual cortex. This suggests that in healthy volunteers both CGRP and sumatriptan may exert their actions outside of the blood-brain barrier.
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