Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40188078›Full record

ArticleBMC neurology2025

Trigemino-autonomic activation in a human trigeminal pain model.

Stefan Evers, Achim Frese, Patrick Hornberg, Oliver Summ

Abstract read
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Article in BMC neurology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Stefan EversFaculty of Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany. everss@uni-muenster.de.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4460-3244
Achim FreseFaculty of Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
Patrick HornbergPrivate Praxis, Emsdetten, Germany.
Oliver SummDepartment of Neurology and Research Center of Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAutonomic symptoms are mandatory for making the diagnosis of a trigemino-autonomic cephalalgia (TAC). These symptoms can occasionally also occur in migraine and facial pain disorders. This leads to the question whether the trigeminal pain itself can induce autonomic symptoms also in healthy subjects.

methodsWe enrolled healthy subjects without a history of migraine or a TAC and provoked severe trigeminal pain by injection of 0.05 ml capsaicin (0.01%) into the right forehead. Autonomic symptoms occurring at the right eye or right nostril were registered until they disappeared. We also calculated an autonomic score for the frequency and duration of autonomic symptoms in an individual.

resultsWe enrolled 60 healthy volunteers (30 male, 30 female; mean age 28 +/- 5 years). All but two subjects developed at least one autonomic symptom after injection of capsaicin. One minute after injection, the pain was rated as 9.2 +/- 1.1 and 8.5 +/- 1.2 (scale from 0 to 10) in female and male subjects, respectively. The autonomic score was 4.4 +/- 1.6 and 1.7 +/- 0.9 for female and male subjects, respectively. All differences between female and male subjects were significant. Pain rating and autonomic score showed a significant positive correlation which remained significant even after adjusting for sex.

conclusionsSevere trigeminal pain was accompanied by autonomic symptoms in almost all subjects in this experiment. The pain rating and the severity of autonomic symptoms were significantly higher in female subjects than in male. The higher the pain the more severe was this autonomic activation. We conclude that activation of autonomic symptoms is an unspecific consequence of severe trigeminal pain. This does, however, not exclude the possibility that primary headache disorders might have an independent anatomic pathway to induce autonomic symptoms because these symptoms can, although very rarely, also occur without pain.

Indexed as

Autonomic Nervous SystemTrigeminal Autonomic CephalalgiasTrigeminal NerveAdultCapsaicinFemaleHumansMalePain MeasurementYoung AdultCapsaicinCapsaicinCluster headacheTrigemino-autonomic symptoms

Identifiers

PMID40188078
PMCPMC11972533

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.