Co-existence of facial and occipital pain may occur in occipital neuralgia, migraine and cluster headache; suggesting convergence of trigeminal and cervical afferents. Such convergence has been shown in humans and other animals, but the site and extent of this are uncertain. In anaesthetized adult cats, the superior sagittal sinus and occipital nerve were stimulated electrically, and extracellular recordings made in the dorsolateral area of the upper cervical cord using glass-coated tungsten electrodes. Of 49 units in 10 cats, 33 (67%) had input from the superior sagittal sinus and the occipital nerve. Thirteen (27%) had superior sagittal sinus input and 3 (6%) had occipital nerve input. Convergent receptive fields were identified mechanically in 7 units. These experiments in cats show convergent input from occipital nerve and superior sagittal sinus on dorsolateral area units in two-thirds of cases studied. This experimental site of trigeminocervical convergence may relate to referral of pain in occipital neuralgia and other headaches.
LanceJW.Mechanism and management of headache.
5th ed.Oxford:
Butterworth-Heinemann,
1993
2.
SolomonSLiptonRBNewmanLC.Nuchal features of cluster headache.
Headache1990;
30:
347–9
3.
KerrFWLA mechanism to account for frontal headache in cases of posterior fossa tumors.
J Neurosurg1961;
18:
605–9
4.
AnthonyM.The role of the occipital nerve in unilateral headache.
In:
RoseFC,
Advances in headache research.
London:
John Libbey,
1987:
257–62
5.
Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society.Classification and diagnostic criteria for headache disorders, cranial neuralgias and facial pain.
Cephalalgia1988;
8Suppl 7:
1–96
6.
KerrFWL.Structural relations of the trigeminal spinal tract to the upper cervical roots and the solitary nucleus in the cat.
Exp Neurol1961;
4:
134–48
7.
KerrFWLOlafsonRA.Trigeminal and cervical volleys: convergence on single units in the spinal gray at C1 and C2.
Arch Neurol1961;
5:
171–8
8.
TarenJAKahnEA.Anatomic pathways related to pain in face and neck.
J Neurosurg1962;
19:
116–21
9.
RayBSWolffHG.Experimental studies of headache. Pain sensitive structures in the head and their significance in headache.
Arch Surg1940;
44:
813–56
10.
WirthFPJr.van BurenJM.Referral of pain from dural stimulation in man.
J Neurosurg1971;
34:
630–42
11.
HunterCRMayfieldFH.Role of the upper cervical roots in the production of pain in the head.
Am J Surg1949;
71:
743–9
AnthonyM.Arrest of attacks of cluster headache by local steroid injection of the occipital nerve.
In:
RoseFC,
Migraine: clinical and research advances.
Basel:
Karger,
1985:
169–73
15.
JansenJBardosiAHildebrandtJLuckeA.cervicogenic, hemicranial attacks associated with vascular irritation or compression of the nerve root C2. Clinical manifestations and morphological findings.
Pain1989;
39:
203–12
16.
BovinGSandI.Cervicogenic headache, migraine without aura and tension-type headache. Diagnostic blockade of greater occipital and supra-orbital nerves.
Pain1992;
5:
43–8
17.
DubuissonD.Treatment of occipital neuralgia by partial posterior rhizotomy at C1–3.
J Neurosurg1995;
82:
581–6
18.
StrassmanAMasonPMoskowitzMMaciewiczR.Responses of brainstem trigeminal neurons to electrical stimulation of the dura.
Brain Res1986;
379:
242–50.
19.
DavisKDDestrovskyJO.Activation of trigeminal brainstem nociceptive neurons by dural artery stimulation.
Pain1986;
25:
395–401
20.
LambertGAZagamiABogdukNLanceJW.Cervical spinal cord neurones receiving input from the cranial vasculature.
Cephalalgia1991;
11:
75–85
21.
YezierskiRPBretonJG.Functional properties of spinomesencephalic tract (SMT) cells in the upper cervical spinal cord of the cat.
Pain1991;
49:
187–96
22.
Angus-LeppanHOlaussonB.BoersP.LambertGA.Convergence of afferents from superior sagittal sinus and tooth pulp on cells in the upper cervical spinal cord of the cat.
Neurosci Lett1994;
182:
275–8
23.
Angus-LeppanHLambertGA.BoersP.ZagamiAS.OlaussonB.Craniovascular nociceptive pathways relay in the upper cervical spinal cord in the cat.
Neurosci Lett1992;
137:
203–6
24.
GoadsbyPJZagamiAS.Stimulation of the superior sagittal sinus increases metabolic activity and blood flow in certain regions of the brainstem and upper cervical spinal cervical cord of the cat.
Brain1991;
114:
1001–11
25.
LambertGALowyABoersPAngus-LeppanHZagamAS.The spinal cord processing of input from the superior sagittal sinus: pathways and modulation by ergot alkaloids.
Brain Res1992;
97:
321–30
26.
LambertGABogdukNGoadsbyPJDuckworthJWLanceJW.Decreased carotid arterial resistance in cats in response to trigeminal stimulation.
J Neurosurg1984;
61:
307–15
27.
MerrillEGAinsworthA.Glass-coated platinum-plated tungsten microelectrodes.
Med Biol Eng1972;
10:
662–72
28.
HuJWDostrovskyJOSessleBJ.Functional properties of neurons in cat trigeminal nucleus caudalis (medullary dorsal horn). I. Responses to oral-facial noxious and non-noxious stimuli and projections to thalamus and subnucleus oralis.
J Neurophysiol1981;
45:
173–91
29.
YokotaTKoyamaNMatsumotoN.Somatotopic distribution of trigeminal nociceptive neurons in ventrobasal complex of cat thalamus.
J Neurophysiol1985;
53:
1387–400
30.
KajanderKCGieslerGJJr.Responses of neurons in the lateral cervical nucleus of the cat to noxious cutaneous stimulation.
J Neurophysiol1987;
57:
1686–704
31.
GuiloffRJFrunsM.Limb pain in migraine and cluster headache.
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1988;
51:
1022–31
32.
GulloffRJFrunsM.Migrainous limb pain. A historical note.
Headache1990;
30:
138–41
33.
CraigADJrTapperDN.Lateral cervical nucleus in the cat: functional organization and characteristics.
J Neurophysiol1978;
41:
1511–34
34.
RexedStromG.Afferent nervous connexions of the lateral cervical nucleus.
Acta Physiol Scand1952;
25:
219–29
35.
TruexRCTaylorMJSmytheMQGildenbergPL.The lateral cervical nucleus of cat, dog and man.
J Comp Neurol1970;
139:
93–104
36.
KaubeHKeayKAHoskinKLBandlerRGoadsbyPJ.Expression of c-Fos-like immunoreactivity in the caudal medulla and upper cervical spinal cord following stimulation of the superior sagittal sinus in the cat.
Brain Research1993;
629:
95–102
37.
StrassmanAMMinetaYVosBP.Distribution of fos-like immunoreactivity in the medullary and upper cervical dorsal horn produced by stimulation of dural blood vessels in the rat.
J Neurosci1994;
14:
3725–35
38.
KaubeHHoskinKLGoadsbyPJ.Activation of the trigeminovascular system by mechanical distension of the superior sagittal sinus in the cat.
Cephalalgia1992;
12:
133–6
39.
AndresKHyon DuringMMuszynskiKSchmidtRF.Nerve fibres and their terminals of the dura mater encephali of the rat.
Anat Embryol1987;
175:
289–301
40.
GoadsbyPJEdvinssonL.Peripheral and central trigeminovascular activation in cat is blocked by the seretonin (5HT)-1D receptor agonist 311C90.
Headache1994;
34:
394–9
41.
EdvinssonLGoadsbyPJ.Neuropeptides in migraine and cluster headache.
Cephalalgia1994;
14:
320–7
42.
GoadsbyPJEdvinssonL.The trigeminovascular system and migraine: studies characterizing cerebrovascular and neuropeptide changes seen in humans and cats.
Ann Neurol1993;
33:
48–56
43.
EscottKJBeattieDTConnorHEBrainSD.Trigeminal ganglion stimulation increases facial skin blood flow in the rat: a major role for calcitonin gene-related peptide.
Brain Res1995;
669:
93–9
44.
Knyihar-CsillikETajtiJ.MohtashamS.SariG.VecseiL.Electrical stimulation of the Gasserian ganglion induces structural alterations of calcitonin gene-related peptide-immunoreactive perivascular sensory nerve terminals in the rat cerebral dura mater: a possible model of migraine headache.
Neurosci Lett1995;
184:
189–92
