Review Article
Open Access
Meningeal Mechanisms and the Migraine Connection
- Dan Levy1 andMichael A. Moskowitz2
- View Affiliations and Author NotesHide Affiliations and Author Notes1Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; email:[email protected]2Center for Systems Biology and Departments of Radiology and Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; email:[email protected]
- Vol. 46:39-58(Volume publication date July 2023)
- First published as a Review in Advance onMarch 13, 2023
- Copyright © 2023 by the author(s).This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third-party material in this article for license information
- View CitationHide Citation
Dan Levy, Michael A. Moskowitz. 2023. Meningeal Mechanisms and the Migraine Connection.Annual Review Neuroscience.46:39-58.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-080422-105509
Abstract
Migraine is a complex neurovascular pain disorder linked to the meninges, a border tissue innervated by neuropeptide-containing primary afferent fibers chiefly from the trigeminal nerve. Electrical or mechanical stimulation of this nerve surrounding large blood vessels evokes headache patterns as in migraine, and the brain, blood, and meninges are likely sources of headache triggers. Cerebrospinal fluid may play a significant role in migraine by transferring signals released from the brain to overlying pain-sensitive meningeal tissues, including dura mater. Interactions between trigeminal afferents, neuropeptides, and adjacent meningeal cells and tissues cause neurogenic inflammation, a critical target for current prophylactic and abortive migraine therapies. Here we review the importance of the cranial meninges to migraine headaches, explore the properties of trigeminal meningeal afferents, and briefly review emerging concepts, such as meningeal neuroimmune interactions, that may one day prove therapeutically relevant.





