Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Tracing neural connections to pain pathways with relevance to primary headaches.

Edvinsson, Lars LU (2011) In Cephalalgia 31. p.737-747
Abstract
Background: Symptoms associated with primary headaches are linked to cranial vascular activity and to the central nervous system (CNS). Review: The central projections of sensory nerves from three cranial vessels are described in order to further understand pain mechanisms involved in primary headaches. Tracers that label small and large calibre primary afferent fibres revealed similar distributions for the central terminations of sensory nerves in the superficial temporal artery, superior sagittal sinus and middle meningeal artery. The sensory nerve fibres from the vessels pass through both the trigeminal and rostral cervical spinal nerves and terminate in the ventrolateral part of the C1-C3 dorsal horns and the caudal and interpolar... (More)
Background: Symptoms associated with primary headaches are linked to cranial vascular activity and to the central nervous system (CNS). Review: The central projections of sensory nerves from three cranial vessels are described in order to further understand pain mechanisms involved in primary headaches. Tracers that label small and large calibre primary afferent fibres revealed similar distributions for the central terminations of sensory nerves in the superficial temporal artery, superior sagittal sinus and middle meningeal artery. The sensory nerve fibres from the vessels pass through both the trigeminal and rostral cervical spinal nerves and terminate in the ventrolateral part of the C1-C3 dorsal horns and the caudal and interpolar divisions of the spinal trigeminal nucleus. The C-fibre terminations were located mainly in the superficial layers (Rexed laminae I and II), and the Aδ-fibres terminated in the deep layers (laminae III and IV). The rostral projections from the ventrolateral C1-C2 dorsal horn revealed terminations in the medial and lateral parabrachial nuclei, the cuneiform nucleus, the periaqueductal gray, the deep mesencephalic nucleus, the thalamic posterior nuclear group and its triangular part, and the thalamic ventral posteromedial nucleus. The terminations in the pons and midbrain were predominately bilateral, whereas those in the thalamus were confined to the contralateral side. Conclusions: The observations, done in rats with the understanding that similar trigeminovascular organization exists in man, reveal vascular projections into the brainstem and some aspects of the central regions putatively involved in the central processing of noxious craniovascular signals. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Cephalalgia
volume
31
pages
737 - 747
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000289528100013
  • pmid:21335366
  • scopus:79954599147
  • pmid:21335366
ISSN
0333-1024
DOI
10.1177/0333102411398152
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6681fdd7-ecb5-4ef9-84a7-9d1898d72fef (old id 1831632)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21335366?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 09:05:01
date last changed
2024-02-11 07:37:08
@article{6681fdd7-ecb5-4ef9-84a7-9d1898d72fef,
  abstract     = {{Background: Symptoms associated with primary headaches are linked to cranial vascular activity and to the central nervous system (CNS). Review: The central projections of sensory nerves from three cranial vessels are described in order to further understand pain mechanisms involved in primary headaches. Tracers that label small and large calibre primary afferent fibres revealed similar distributions for the central terminations of sensory nerves in the superficial temporal artery, superior sagittal sinus and middle meningeal artery. The sensory nerve fibres from the vessels pass through both the trigeminal and rostral cervical spinal nerves and terminate in the ventrolateral part of the C1-C3 dorsal horns and the caudal and interpolar divisions of the spinal trigeminal nucleus. The C-fibre terminations were located mainly in the superficial layers (Rexed laminae I and II), and the Aδ-fibres terminated in the deep layers (laminae III and IV). The rostral projections from the ventrolateral C1-C2 dorsal horn revealed terminations in the medial and lateral parabrachial nuclei, the cuneiform nucleus, the periaqueductal gray, the deep mesencephalic nucleus, the thalamic posterior nuclear group and its triangular part, and the thalamic ventral posteromedial nucleus. The terminations in the pons and midbrain were predominately bilateral, whereas those in the thalamus were confined to the contralateral side. Conclusions: The observations, done in rats with the understanding that similar trigeminovascular organization exists in man, reveal vascular projections into the brainstem and some aspects of the central regions putatively involved in the central processing of noxious craniovascular signals.}},
  author       = {{Edvinsson, Lars}},
  issn         = {{0333-1024}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{737--747}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Cephalalgia}},
  title        = {{Tracing neural connections to pain pathways with relevance to primary headaches.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0333102411398152}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0333102411398152}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}