PHRM 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Middle Meningeal Artery, Trigeminal Ganglion, Migraine
Document Summary
Headache pain is felt when electrical stimuli were applied to the dura ( red circles ) adjacent to the main artery of the suprasagittal ( midline ) sinus or branches of the middle meningeal artery. Stimulation at other sites away from meningeal arteries did not evoke pain ( open circles ) Trigeminal nerve thought to convey headache pain. Evidence : lesions of trigeminal ganglion abolished headache pain. Electrical stimulation of dural sites near the meningeal artery markedly activates neurons located in the trigeminal sensory nucleus caudalis . Thought that migraine headache was due to meningeal arteries dilating. Sending pain signals (action potentials to the brain via the brainstem: perivascular branches of trigeminal nerve sensing this dilation. Trigeminal nerve innervates certain intracranial cerebral vessels serving meningeal (dura) circulation. Dense perivascular network of trigeminal sensory nerve fibers transmit info to brain. Trigeminal nerve fibers pass through the trigeminal ganglion.
