Ann Arbor, MI - March 3, 2009 - A University of Michigan School of Dentistry researcher has received a grant to investigate the factors that may be responsible for triggering migraine headaches. Dr. Alex DaSilva, assistant professor in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences, was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives to try to determine what cellular and/or molecular changes in the brain may be responsible.

Dr. Alex DaSilva, and his researchers, Lana Huffman (left) and Nellie Kippley (right), members of the Headache and Orofacial Pain Effort group, hope to characterize the effects of migraine headaches on a person's nervous system, at both molecular and cellular levels and also determine if any regions of the brain that are affected exhibit any structural changes.

Characterized by sudden attacks of moderate to severe headache pain, migraines are often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and hypersensitivity to light and sound. Since many patients experience migraines from childhood to adulthood, their quality of life is affected and frequently leads to absences from work or school and additional costs due to doctor's appointments and prescription medications.

However, many migraine therapies do not produce long-lasting relief, suggesting that chronic migraine attacks may be due to other factors.

"We still don't understand how the brain is affected during a migraine," DaSilva said. "We hope to characterize the effects of migraines on a person's nervous system, from molecular to cellular levels," he added. His research group, the Headache and Orofacial Pain Effort, will also study a relevant sensory disturbance experienced by some patients with migraines called allodynia. This phenomenon results in a painful response to a usually non-painful stimulus and affects about two-thirds of migraine patients. With technology, the investigators hope to be able to see if regions of the brain that are affected also exhibit any structural changes.

DaSilva and his group of researchers will collaborate with other U-M researchers, including Dr. Jon-Kar Zubieta from the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, and use various technologies and neuroimaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scans, to study what changes take place in the brain of migraine sufferers. Those results will be compared with images from a group of healthy volunteers.

Since time is of the essence, migraine patients who are selected for the study will live near the U-M campus so they can be quickly evaluated and treated. Because migraines can last from several hours to days in adults, efforts will be made to scan those patients during the first 24 hours of an attack and during a pain-free period.

Research conducted by former U-M School of Dentistry faculty member Dr. Christian Stohler provided for the foundation of the migraine study. In 2001, Stohler and Zubieta published the results of their studies that used PET scans, a type of nuclear medicine imaging that produces three-dimensional images to examine healthy patients experiencing facial pain. "This work elegantly described mechanisms in healthy subjects, however little is known about their influence on patients with chronic trigeminal pain disorders, including migraines," DaSilva said.

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation's leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care, and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the School to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists, and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia, and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.

The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives is a nonprofit organization of more than 265 neuroscientists committed to advancing public awareness of the progress and promise of brain research. For more information, visit www.dana.org.

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