Sildenafil and calcitonin gene-related peptide dilate intradural arteries: A 3T MR angiography study in healthy volunteers

What Was Tested

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

Sildenafil and calcitonin gene-related peptide are vasoactive substances that induce migraine attacks in patients.

The intradural arteries are thought to be involved, but these have never been examined in vivo.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young adults and adults, both men and women.

In a double-blind, randomized, three-way crossover, placebo-controlled head-to-head comparison study, MR-angiography was recorded in healthy volunteers at baseline and twice after study drug (sildenafil/ calcitonin gene-related peptide/saline) administration.

Circumferences of extracranial and intradural middle meningeal artery segments were measured using semi-automated analysis software.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

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

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide) group a baseline to be compared against.

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

The area under the curve for circumference change was compared using paired t-tests between study days.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide, Headache, Healthy Volunteers, Magnetic Resonance Angiography, Meningeal Arteries, Sildenafil Citrate and Vasodilation.

Author keywords: Neuroimaging, human migraine models and middle meningeal artery.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2019 (Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache), a journal based in England.

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