Can nitric oxide induce migraine in normal individuals?

Abstract

For many years, scientists have debated the possibility that an individual "migraine threshold" determines the likelihood with which individuals may express migraine attacks. Recent discoveries provided evidence for both genetic and environmental influences on individual migraine expression. The question is whether any person may express a migraine attack given a sufficiently strong stimulus or provocation. Here, we reviewed and discussed the ability of nitric oxide to induce migraine-like attacks in normal individuals. Experimental data show that normal individuals may develop a migraine-like attack and that the human data point to different ways of further developing existing animal and human models.