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Translational Research in Headache

Editors: Lars Edvinsson and Paolo Martelletti

In recent years, research in the area of headaches has been increasingly integrating the concept of cross-disciplinary exploration between various disciplines, deepening the vertical and bidirectional flow between laboratory and clinic. The current enormous advancement in Headache Medicine is thus easily projected onto the community in order to promote adequate control of the disease in this important area of Clinical Medicine.

The combination of different clinical studies, resources, skills and techniques in order to obtain improvements in the application of new medical techniques is among the objectives of translational research in headaches. This will allow us to reach better results in the prevention, diagnosis and development of increasingly effective and targeted therapies.


  1. The glutamatergic neurotransmission has important role in the pathomechanism of primary headache disorders. The kynurenine metabolites derived from catabolism of tryptophan (Trp) have significant involvement n...

    Authors: Bernadett Tuka, Tamás Körtési, Nikolett Nánási, Ferenc Tömösi, Tamás Janáky, Dániel Veréb, Délia Szok, János Tajti and László Vécsei
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2023 24:35
  2. The study was designed to explore the correlation of the asymmetric regulation between periaqueductal gray (PAG) and bilateral trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC) in migraine rats through studying the changes of...

    Authors: Zhijian Cao, Wenjing Yu, Luping Zhang, Jiajia Yang, Jiafei Lou, Maosheng Xu and Zhengxiang Zhang
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2023 24:27
  3. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonizing drugs represents the most important advance in migraine therapy for decades. However, these new drugs are only effective in 50–60% of patients. Recent studie...

    Authors: Song Guo, Charlotte Ernstsen, Anders Hay-Schmidt, David Møbjerg Kristensen, Messoud Ashina, Jes Olesen and Sarah Louise Christensen
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:155

    The Correction to this article has been published in The Journal of Headache and Pain 2023 24:73

  4. Migraine is a highly prevalent disorder with significant economical and personal burden. Despite the development of effective therapeutics, the causes which precipitate migraine attacks remain elusive. Clinica...

    Authors: Olivia Grech, Matilde Sassani, Gisela Terwindt, Gareth G. Lavery, Susan P. Mollan and Alexandra J. Sinclair
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:127
  5. Unlike the spontaneously appearing aura in migraineurs, experimentally, cortical spreading depression (CSD), the neurophysiological correlate of aura is induced by non-physiological stimuli. Consequently, neur...

    Authors: Sahin Hanalioglu, Aslihan Taskiran-Sag, Hulya Karatas, Buket Donmez-Demir, Sinem Yilmaz-Ozcan, Emine Eren-Kocak, Yasemin Gursoy-Ozdemir and Turgay Dalkara
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:107
  6. The diagnosis of migraine is mainly clinical and self-reported, which makes additional examinations unnecessary in most cases. Migraine can be subtyped into chronic (CM) and episodic (EM). Despite the very hig...

    Authors: Javier Gomez-Pilar, Víctor Martínez-Cagigal, David García-Azorín, Carlos Gómez, Ángel Guerrero and Roberto Hornero
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:95
  7. Several preclinical and clinical lines of evidence suggest a role of neuroinflammation in migraine. Neuroimaging offers the possibility to investigate and localize neuroinflammation in vivo in patients with migra...

    Authors: Rune Häckert Christensen, Cédric Gollion, Faisal Mohammad Amin, Michael A. Moskowitz, Nouchine Hadjikhani and Messoud Ashina
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:60
  8. Based on the current understanding of the role of neuropeptide signalling in migraine, we explored the therapeutic potential of a specific cannabinoid agonist. The aim of the present study was to examine the e...

    Authors: Isabella Mai Christiansen, Jacob C. A. Edvinsson, Philip V. Reducha, Lars Edvinsson and Kristian Agmund Haanes
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:30
  9. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors 1B, 1D and 1F have key roles in migraine pharmacotherapy. Selective agonists targeting these receptors, such as triptans and ditans, are effective in aborting acute migrain...

    Authors: Jacob C. A. Edvinsson, Aida Maddahi, Isabella M. Christiansen, Philip V. Reducha, Karin Warfvinge, Majid Sheykhzade, Lars Edvinsson and Kristian A. Haanes
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:26
  10. Noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) has recently emerged as a promising therapy for migraine. We previously demonstrated that vagus nerve stimulation inhibits cortical spreading depression (CSD), the el...

    Authors: Tzu-Ting Liu, Andreia Morais, Tsubasa Takizawa, Inge Mulder, Bruce J. Simon, Shih-Pin Chen, Shuu-Jiun Wang, Cenk Ayata and Jiin-Cherng Yen
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2022 23:12
  11. Purinergic P2X7 receptor plays an important role in migraine pathophysiology. Yet precise molecular mechanism underlying P2X7R signaling in migraine remains unclear. This study explores the hypothesis that P2X...

    Authors: Lingdi Nie, Dongqing Ma, John P. Quinn and Minyan Wang
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2021 22:146
  12. Pain is generally concomitant with an inflammatory reaction at the site where the nociceptive fibers are activated. Rodent studies suggest that a sterile meningeal inflammatory signaling cascade may play a rol...

    Authors: Şefik Evren Erdener, Zeynep Kaya and Turgay Dalkara
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2021 22:138
  13. Pathogenesis of COVID-19 -related headache is unknown, though the induction of the trigeminal neurons through inflammation is proposed. We aimed to investigate key systemic circulating inflammatory molecules a...

    Authors: Hayrunnisa Bolay, Ömer Karadas, Bilgin Oztürk, Riza Sonkaya, Bahar Tasdelen, Tuba D. S. Bulut, Özlem Gülbahar, Aynur Özge and Betül Baykan
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2021 22:94
  14. the interest of clinical reaseach in polymorphisms and epigenetics in migraine has been growing over the years. Due to the new era of preventative migraine treatment opened by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targ...

    Authors: Damiana Scuteri, Maria Tiziana Corasaniti, Paolo Tonin, Pierluigi Nicotera and Giacinto Bagetta
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2021 22:87
  15. Neuroinflammation has an important role in the pathophysiology of migraine, which is a complex neuro-glio-vascular disorder. The main aim of this review is to highlight findings of cortical spreading depolariz...

    Authors: Oguzhan Kursun, Muge Yemisci, Arn M. J. M. van den Maagdenberg and Hulya Karatas
    Citation: The Journal of Headache and Pain 2021 22:55