在1月在線出版的《自然—神經(jīng)科學(xué)》期刊上，研究人員分析光線加劇了偏頭疼患者疼痛的可能性,。他們提出了眼睛中的光敏感細(xì)胞與大腦中某種神經(jīng)細(xì)胞之間的一種新聯(lián)系,，這種神經(jīng)細(xì)胞是偏頭疼患者感覺疼痛的關(guān)鍵所在,。
Rami Burstein和同事發(fā)現(xiàn)，許多盲人偏頭疼患者也在努力避免光照,。然而,，完全失去視力的盲人患者卻沒有這樣的問題。這表明,，在眼睛中感覺到的光線確實(shí)加劇了偏頭疼,，科學(xué)家們因此指出，可以預(yù)設(shè)這是一種控制白天生物鐘節(jié)奏的光敏感視網(wǎng)膜神經(jīng)細(xì)胞,，但這種細(xì)胞并不參與視力功能,。
為了測(cè)試這個(gè)想法，研究人員以老鼠為對(duì)象,，尋找視網(wǎng)膜與大腦中疼感區(qū)域的直接聯(lián)系,。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，包括光敏感神經(jīng)在內(nèi)的視網(wǎng)膜神經(jīng)軸突確實(shí)與大腦中一組神經(jīng)細(xì)胞群有聯(lián)系,，這些神經(jīng)細(xì)胞群被稱為丘腦,，該區(qū)域負(fù)責(zé)接受和傳遞與偏頭疼相關(guān)的疼痛。這種聯(lián)系也許可以解釋光線如何加劇了偏頭疼患者的疼痛,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Nature Neuroscience 10 January 2010 | doi:10.1038/nn.2475
A neural mechanism for exacerbation of headache by light
Rodrigo Noseda1, Vanessa Kainz1, Moshe Jakubowski1, Joshua J Gooley2, Clifford B Saper2,3, Kathleen Digre4 & Rami Burstein1,3
The perception of migraine headache, which is mediated by nociceptive signals transmitted from the cranial dura mater to the brain, is uniquely exacerbated by exposure to light. We found that exacerbation of migraine headache by light is prevalent among blind individuals who maintain non–image-forming photoregulation in the face of massive rod/cone degeneration. Using single-unit recording and neural tract tracing in the rat, we identified dura-sensitive neurons in the posterior thalamus whose activity was distinctly modulated by light and whose axons projected extensively across layers I–V of somatosensory, visual and associative cortices. The cell bodies and dendrites of such dura/light-sensitive neurons were apposed by axons originating from retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), predominantly from intrinsically photosensitive RGCs, the principle conduit of non–image-forming photoregulation. We propose that photoregulation of migraine headache is exerted by a non–image-forming retinal pathway that modulates the activity of dura-sensitive thalamocortical neurons.
1 Department of Anesthesia, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
2 Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
3 Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
4 Department of Neurology and Ophthalmology, Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
