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Updated: Sep 20, 2025
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3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
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Migraine and peripheral pain models show differential alterations in neuronal complexity
Zachariah Bertels1, Elizaveta Mangutov1, Catherine Conway1
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Headache
|June 9, 2022
Summary
Neuronal complexity changes in the brain are linked to chronic migraine and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Different brain regions show unique alterations in these pain conditions, offering insights into their chronic development.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pain Research
Background:
- Neuronal complexity alterations are observed in head pain processing regions in mouse models of chronic migraine.
- Restoration of neuronal complexity correlates with anti-migraine effects of pharmacotherapies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neuronal cytoarchitectural changes in additional brain regions involved in pain and emotional processing in chronic migraine models.
- To examine the generalizability of these findings in a mouse model of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a peripheral pain disorder.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the nitroglycerin (NTG) model for chronic migraine-associated pain and induced cortical spreading depression (CSD) to model migraine aura.
- Induced CRPS via tibial fracture and casting.
- Visualized and analyzed neuronal cytoarchitecture using Golgi stain and Simple Neurite Tracer.
Main Results:
- In the NTG model, increased neuronal complexity was observed in the thalamus, with no changes in the amygdala or caudate putamen.
- Following CSD, decreased neuronal complexity was noted in the periaqueductal gray (PAG).
- In the CRPS model, decreased neuronal complexity was found in the hippocampus and increased complexity in the PAG, with no change in the somatosensory cortex.
Conclusions:
- Alterations in neuronal complexity are a characteristic feature of both chronic migraine and chronic CRPS.
- Each pain condition exhibits a distinct cytoarchitectural signature.
- These unique signatures may provide insights into the differential transition of these pain states from acute to chronic conditions.
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