The research in this thesis is divided into two parts. Part I consists of biochemical studies in migraine, a paroxysmal brain disorder where visual disturbances may form a part of the migraine... Show moreThe research in this thesis is divided into two parts. Part I consists of biochemical studies in migraine, a paroxysmal brain disorder where visual disturbances may form a part of the migraine attack. The main objective was quantification of amine neurotransmitters and other amine molecules in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma of migraine patients, and compare these concentrations with those from healthy controls. Part II describes the clinical relation between migraine and visual snow, a brain disorder with continuous visual disturbances and that is possibly associated with migraine. Since not much is known about this relationship this thesis presents observational studies on the incidence of comorbid migraine in visual snow. Show less
The research in this thesis was aimed at identifying and understanding mechanisms underlying modulating factors for and consequences of cortical spreading depression (CSD), the pathophysiological... Show moreThe research in this thesis was aimed at identifying and understanding mechanisms underlying modulating factors for and consequences of cortical spreading depression (CSD), the pathophysiological substrate for migraine aura that occurs in one-third of migraine patients. In this thesis, experimental studies on CSD were performed in wild-type (WT) and transgenic migraine mice, which express CaV2.1 Ca2+ channels with a mutated _1 subunit that contains the R192Q missense mutation. The R192Q mutation was previously identified in patients with familial hemiplegic migraine type 1 (FHM1) and causes gain-of-function effects in terms of neuronal Ca2+ influx, neurotransmission, and susceptibility to experimentally induced CSD. Using various experimental strategies, in this thesis, the FHM1 R192Q mouse model was used to study pathophysiological mechanisms of the initiation and modulation of CSD as well as of neurobiological and molecular changes that accompany CSD events. Show less
