Trigeminal nerve pathway
Perivascular nerve network
Also searched as Perivascular nerve network.
The nerve network wrapping the blood vessels around the brain — the structure every migraine mechanism acts through, and the final common path of the attack. When it is sensitized its threshold drops, so ordinary light, sound and movement register as pain.
In depth
The network wrapping the brain's blood vessels — the structure every migraine mechanism acts through.
What drives it
Potassium channel gating increases it.
Kir6.1, Kir6.2, SUR1 and SUR2 are expressed in the trigeminal ganglion and trigeminal nucleus caudalis; KATP channels are widely present in the trigeminovascular system and regulate cerebral and meningeal arterial tone. doi 10.1177/03331024251355944 · PMC5567577
Headache peptide increases it.
CGRP is released from trigeminal afferents and is the validated therapeutic target of the trigeminovascular pathway. doi 10.1177/03331024251355944 · PMC5567577
Pain neuropeptide increases it.
Substance P is released from primary afferent neurons onto neurokinin-1 receptors in the meninges, driving neurogenic inflammation. doi 10.1177/03331024251355944 · PMC5567577
Calms histamine response increases it.
Dural mast cell degranulation releases mediators that sensitize meningeal nociceptors. doi 10.1177/03331024251355944 · PMC5567577
Cortical spreading wave increases it.
Cortical spreading depression activates the trigeminovascular system, linking the aura phase to the headache phase. doi 10.1177/03331024251355944 · PMC5567577
Lipid messengers increases it.
Prostaglandins were found in smooth muscle of cranial arteries and in the trigeminal nucleus caudalis; PGI2 sensitizes meningeal nociceptors. doi 10.1177/03331024251355944 · PMC5567577
What it drives
It increases Neurovascular calm.
Activation of the trigeminovascular system — trigeminal afferents innervating the meninges and cranial vessels — is the final common pathway of the migraine attack. doi 10.1177/03331024251355944 · PMC5567577
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.