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The effect of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide-38 and vasoactive intestinal peptide in cluster headache
Plain-language guide to PMID 32962406 (2020): double-blind randomized controlled trial study of VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide) and PACAP in 14 patients.
Key Facts
- PMID
- 32962406
- Journal
- Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache
- Year
- 2020
- Study type
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Authors
- Vollesen ALH et al. (8 authors)
- DOI
- 10.1177/0333102420940689
What This Study Did, in Plain Language
What Was Tested
This randomized controlled trial paper looks at VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide) and PACAP.
The researchers investigated the attack-inducing effects of PACAP38 and vasoactive intestinal peptide in cluster headache, hypothesising that PACAP38, but not vasoactive intestinal peptide, would induce cluster-like attacks in episodic active phase and chronic cluster headache patients.
Who Took Part
The abstract describes 14 patients taking part.
PubMed indexes the participants as teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.
How the Study Was Run
The design is described as randomized, double-blind and crossover.
Because people in this VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal 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 patients and researchers unaware of who received VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide).
Each person switched between VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide) and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.
The researchers recorded headache intensity, incidence of cluster-like attacks, cranial autonomic symptoms and vital signs using a questionnaire (0-90 min).
What Was Measured
The researchers investigated the attack-inducing effects of PACAP38 and vasoactive intestinal peptide in cluster headache, hypothesising that PACAP38, but not vasoactive intestinal peptide, would induce cluster-like attacks in episodic active phase and chronic cluster headache patients.
Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adenylyl Cyclases, Cluster Headache, Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide, Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide, Vasodilation and Vasodilator Agents.
The authors tagged it with the keywords pituitary adenylate-cyclase activating peptide-38 and vasoactive intestinal peptide, VIP.
What This Means in Plain Language
The paper is a randomized, double-blind and crossover study of VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide) and PACAP in 14 patients.
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 2020 (Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache), a journal based in England.
More context: the VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide) compound page and the PACAP compound page, all human trials.
Our Notes on the Compounds
VIP (Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide): A 28-amino-acid neuropeptide that relaxes smooth muscle and calms immune activity; aviptadil is a synthetic form.
PACAP: Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide, a 38-amino-acid neuropeptide studied in migraine provocation research.
Related Pages
Source: PubMed record. This explanation is written by PeptideWhiz from the public record. For research and education only. Not medical advice; no dosing information is given.