EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON HEADACHE

Abstract

There is evidence that stretched cranial arteries give rise to certain headaches.¹Evidence has also been presented to show that the cerebral arteries, principally the large arteries at the base of the brain, are responsible for the quality and intensity of the headache which follows intravenous injection of histamine and that the extracerebral arteries make only a minor contribution to the histamine headache.²The headaches of migraine and hypertension, on the other hand, result largely from the stretch and dilatation of arteries in the scalp and dura.³Experiments briefly alluded to in previous communications, but not reported in detail (the effect of increased intracranial pressure on histamine headache), form in part the basis for these inferences. These experiments are presented fully in the present report. The experiments herein described have as their aim, first, the further analysis of the vascular mechanisms underlying migraine headache and headache associated