The pharmacology of headache

Headache is a common problem which besets most of us at some time or the other. The pharmacology of headache is complex in an overall sense but can be understood in terms of the anatomy and physiology of the pain-producing structures. Migraine can be used as a template to understand the activation of nociceptive systems in the head and thus their neurotransmitter mediation and modulation. In recent years, the role of serotonin (5-HT) in headache pharmacology has been unravelled in the context of both understanding its role in the nociceptive systems related to headache and by exploiting its 5-HT1 receptor subtypes in headache therapeutics. The pharmacology of the head pain systems, as they an known and as they might evolve, are explored in the context of both, the anatomy and physiology of trigeminovascular nociception and in the context of clinical questions, such as those of efficacy, headache recurrence and adverse events. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.