Vascular head pain: a neurobiologist's approach.
Cephalic blood vessels are invested with a dense network of perivascular fibers of diverse origin. A proportion of these fibers arise from trigeminal neurons and contain chemicals which have vasodilating and pro-inflammatory properties. Evidence suggests that these trigeminovascular neurons may influence both vascular function and neurophysiological activity within the brain. The trigeminovascular system may thus represent a (bi-directional, brain-vessel, vessel-brain) final common pathway for the actions of many chemical, mechanical and neural influences which may have important consequences for the pathogenesis and treatment of headache.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002415:Cats; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000294:innervation / Q000503:physiopathology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014653:Vascular Headaches / Q000503:physiopathology*
D009479:Neuropeptides