As annoying as a migraine can be, we have come up with meds to keep the effects in control as best we can. But, as to what causes a migraine continued to remain a mystery for quite long.

Two proteins, on the other hand, seemed to be found more often than naught, in blood samples collected from people having frequent and chronic migraine problems. When volunteers were injected with these blood samples intravenously, they developed migraine and migraine related symptoms approximately two hours later. To investigate, Simon Akerman at New York University and Peter Goadsby at King’s College London studied two peptides released by neurons thought to be involved in migraine pain, called VIP and PACAP.

For further proof, rats were injected with those these protein, VIP and PACAP, and only rat injected with the former suffered migraines. This was noticed about an hour and a half after the injection process took place (Science Translational Medicine, doi.org/787). This suggests that PACAP is responsible for kick-starting a migraine, says Akerman.

Now, to prevent the result seen, Akerman and Goadsby inserted molecules which could block the receptors on which PACAP proteins bound. This method worked and the neurons responsible for headaches no longer showed activity surges. “These receptors could represent a new therapeutic target for migraine,” says Akerman.

“It appears that these receptors are important, and that this is vital to helping us understand migraine and for developing new treatments,” says Debbie Hay at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. “The receptors are a new and exciting target for migraine.”

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Author:Technology Blog