In this issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology Brennan et al. (p. 4143–4151) present a provocative, carefully conducted series of studies that challenge a very tightly held belief about cortical spreading depression (CSD) showing propagation of the dilation of cortical surface arterioles at a greater velocity than the wave changes in cellular activity. How could this be? Do not changes in bloo...

objective headache is a frequent symptom in children and adolescents. migraine is one of the most common types of primary headache disorders in children that at times can be extremely disabling. many clinical features of migraine in children differ from that starting in adulthood. this review discusses the epidemiology,clinical features, management, and prognosis of migraine headache in childre...

We studied unique cerebral blood flow (CBF) responses to cortical spreading depression in mice using a novel two-dimensional CBF imaging technique, laser speckle flowmetry. Cortical spreading depression caused a triphasic CBF response in both rat and mouse cortex. In rats, mild initial hypoperfusion (approximately 75% of baseline) was followed by a transient hyperemia reaching approximately 220...

Severe epileptics may require curative neurosurgery. Sometimes focus localization requires recording with electrodes inserted deep into the brain, which may cause death or permanent neurological damage. Since epileptic seizures are associated with marked changes in cerebral impedance, we propose that EIT with sub-dural electrodes (inserted between the brain and skull) could provide a superior a...

Cerebral glucose utilization is markedly increased in most areas of the cerebral cortex and reduced in many subcortical structures during spreading cortical depression. During recovery, cortical glucose utilization is still elevated, but the increased metabolic activity is distributed in columns running perpendicularly through the cortex.