Birkhauser Migraine: A Neuroinflammatory Disease? (Progress in Inflammation Research)

This book contains reviews by a renowned group of clinicians and scientists, which consider in great depth the potential involvement of neurogenic inflammation in the pathogenesis of migraine and inhibition of this putative mechanism as a possible mode of action of antimigraine medications. The authors carefully consider current and future potential therapeutic approaches for the abortive as well as preventive treatment of migraine. The pioneering work by Professor Michael A. Moskowitz's group at Harvard gave rise to the "neurogenic hypothesis" of migraine pathogenesis and to an intel lectual framework for many aspects of migraine research through a detailed phar macological characterization of the trigeminovascular system. This knowledge then spurred detailed research worldwide into the roles of the dural vasculature, trigem inal nerve fibers, and sensory neuropeptides, such as substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide, in migraine. Similar in-depth investigations have not been made of the role of the seventh cranial parasympathetic nerves but this area war rants further study because of its potential for interactions with the trigeminovas cular system and its clear involvement in cluster headache. From the Back Cover The potential involvement of neurogenic inflammation in the pathogenesis of the migraine headache and the inhibition of this mechanism as a possible mode of action of antimigraine medications are discussed in great depth in this volume. The topics are approached from a pathophysiological as well as a clinical experimental perspective by a renowned group of clinicians and scientists who carefully consider the current, future, and potential therapeutic approaches to migraine treatment. The first chapters of the book address the impact of migraine on a personal and societal level, the presentation, pathogenesis and treatment of migraine as well as the role of neurogenic inflammation. Subsequent chapters present models of neurogenic inflammation related to the pathogenesis of the migraine headache, focussing on the mediators and their receptors, as well as on the involvement of mast cells. The possibility of inhibition of neurogenic inflammation in abortive and preventive migraine treatment is also extensively discussed and a chapter on the question of whether migraine is a neuroinflammatory disease concludes this comprehensive analysis. Clinicians and scientists interested in inflammation from a physiological or pharmacological perspective and those interested in the pathogenesis of headache - migraine in particular - are the intended audience for this unique body of work.