Dilation by CGRP of middle meningeal artery and reversal by sumatriptan in normal volunteers

What Was Tested

Researchers studied CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) plays a fundamental role in the pathophysiology of neurovascular headaches.

CGRP infusion causes headache and dilation of cranial vessels.

Who Took Part

The study group was 18 volunteers.

The age groups tagged for this paper are young adults and adults, both men and women.

The researchers performed a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study in 18 healthy volunteers.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Blinding on both sides kept the volunteers and researchers unaware of who received CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide).

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) could be set against what happens without it.

In the crossover set-up each of the volunteers took both CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Area Under Curve, Blood Pressure, Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide, Confidence Intervals, Drug Interactions, Headache and Magnetic Resonance Angiography.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) in 18 volunteers.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 4 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2010 (Neurology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) compound page, all human trials.