HEADACHE INDUCED BY A NITRIC-OXIDE DONOR (NITROGLYCERIN) RESPONDS TO SUMATRIPTAN - A HUMAN-MODEL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MIGRAINE DRUGS

Experimental ''vascular'' headache in humans may be used in characteri zing new migraine drugs. The effects of sumatripian on nitroglycerin-( NTG)-induced headache and arterial responses were therefore studied. F ollowing a double-blind randomized crossover design, 10 healthy volunt eers received sumahiptan 6 mg s.c. or placebo succeeded by 20 min NTG (0.12 mu g/kg/min) infusion. Headache was rated on a 10 points scale. Temporal and radial artery diameters and velocity in the middle cerebr al artery (MCA) were measured with ultrasound. Sumatriptan reduced the NTG-induced headache, median score 1.5 versus 4 after placebo (p<0.01 ) and decreased temporal and radial artery diameters 75+/-3 and 86+/-3 % of baseline respectively (p<0.05). Blood velocity in the MCA was una ffected. The NTG model may prove to be a valuable tool in the developm ent of future migraine drugs. The results suggest that NTG headache in non-migraineurs may share mechanisms with migraine headache.