WEAK electrical stimulus applied to A the rabbit’s cerebral cortex causes under certain conditions (I) a depression of the spontaneous electrical activity which spreads with low velocity (3-5 mm/min) over the cortex and lasts from I to 3 min. Several repetitions of the stimulus at intervals of 8-10 min may change this spreading cortical depression into a spreading convulsive pattern (2-5). Both...

Migraine is a common, disabling, and undertreated episodic brain disorder that is more common in women than in men. Unbiased genome-wide association studies have identified 13 migraine-associated variants pointing at genes that cluster in pathways for glutamatergic neurotransmission, synaptic function, pain sensing, metalloproteinases, and the vasculature. The individual pathogenetic contributi...

WEAK electrical stimulus applied to A the rabbit’s cerebral cortex causes under certain conditions (I) a depression of the spontaneous electrical activity which spreads with low velocity (3-5 mm/min) over the cortex and lasts from I to 3 min. Several repetitions of the stimulus at intervals of 8-10 min may change this spreading cortical depression into a spreading convulsive pattern (2-5). Both...

Change of local cerebral blood flow in response to a single cortical spreading depression of Leão was studied in the brain. During a spreading depression, potassium briefly accumulates in the brain extracellular space. The cortical blood flow was normal during the maximal rate of increase of the extracellular potassium concentration. The blood flow doubled during the subsequent period of normal...

Migraine is thought to be triggered by excessive neocortical neuronal excitability that leads to cortical spreading depression. In this issue of Neuron, Tottene et al. study a mouse model of familial hemiplegic migraine type 1, and provide evidence for the hyperactivity of P/Q-type calcium channel-mediated cortical glutamatergic synaptic transmission as an underlying mechanism for the susceptib...

Abstrad-The consolidation of an interhemispherically transferred avoidance response was studied using spreading depression to control transfer and consolidation times. Transmission of the learning required 3 min. The length of time following transfer when consolidation could be disturbed varied with the duration of spreading depression, from 3 min to 2 hr. The effect appears not to be due to di...

Objectives At the conclusion of this program, participants should be able to: 1. Identify the typical features of migraine aura. 2. Describe the pathophysiologic mechanisms behind migraine aura. 3. Correlate the physiology of cortical spreading depression to the clinical phenomena of migraine aura. 1. Migraine aura is associated with which of the following conditions: a. Cortical spreading depr...

The pathological phenomena of seizures and spreading depression have long been considered separate physiological events in the brain. By incorporating conservation of particles and charge, and accounting for the energy required to restore ionic gradients, we extend the classic Hodgkin-Huxley formalism to uncover a unification of neuronal membrane dynamics. By examining the dynamics as a functio...

Following transient ischemia of the brain, the coupling between somatosensory activation and the hemodynamic-metabolic response is abolished for a certain period despite the partial recovery of somatosensory evoked responses. To determine whether this disturbance is due to alterations of the stimulus-induced neuronal excitation or to a breakdown of the coupling mechanisms, cortical spreading de...

UNLABELLED Neurogenic inflammation triggered by extravasation of plasma protein has been hypothesized as a key factor in the generation of the pain sensation associated with migraine. The principal immune cell that responds to this inflammation is the parenchymal microglia of the central nervous system. METHODS Using a PET technique with (11)C-(R)-[1-(2-chlorophenyl)-N-methyl-N-(1-methyl-prop...