The Three C's of Post-Traumatic Headache: Cells, Circuits and Cortical Spreading Depression

Abstract:  Post-traumatic headache (PTH) is the most common and often debilitating outcome of a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).  The headaches can last for months to years after even a single injury, yet the underlying pathophysiology remains poorly understood and current medical therapies are often ineffective.  To begin addressing this we present results from a recently developed preclinical animal model of PTH using electrophysiological, neuroimaging and optogenetic approaches to examine mTBI induced cellular and circuit dysfunction that may promote PTH.