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Facial expression is widely used as a measure of pain in infants; whether nonhuman animals display such pain expressions has never been systematically assessed. We developed the mouse grimace scale (MGS), a standardized behavioral coding system with high accuracy and reliability; assays involving noxious stimuli of moderate duration are accompanied by facial expressions of pain. This measure of spontaneously emitted pain may provide insight into the subjective pain experience of mice.

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IGRAINE IS A COMMON, chronic, multifactorial neurovascular disorder typically characterized by recurrent attacks of disabling headache and autonomic nervous system dysfunction (migraine without aura); up to one third of patients also have neurological aura symptoms (migraine with aura). 1,2 Migraine has been suggested to be an independent risk factor for stroke, but the evidence is conflicting and seems to be restricted to certain subpopulations (eg, women with migraine with aura who are younger than 45 years, particularly ones who smoke or use oral contraceptives [OCs]). 3-9 Case reports on patients with so-called migrainous infarction suggest that the posterior circulation territory (PCT) is most commonly affected. 8,9 However, data are lacking on prevalence of subclinical infarcts in a wide spectrum of migraine patients in the general population. Patients with migraine may also be at increased risk of more diffuse subclinical lesions in the deep white matter or periventricular areas that are only detected on neuroimaging. 10-12 Several clinic-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have reported this,

Migraine is a debilitating neurological disorder affecting around 1 in 7 people worldwide, but its molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Some debate exists over whether migraine is a disease of vascular dysfunction or a result of neuronal dysfunction with secondary vascular changes. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have thus far identified 13 independent loci associated with migraine. To identify new susceptibility loci, we performed the largest genetic study of migraine to date, comprising 59,674 cases and 316,078 controls from 22 GWA studies. We identified 44 independent single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with migraine risk (P < 5 × 10−8) that map to 38 distinct genomic loci, including 28 loci not previously reported and the first locus identified on chromosome X. In subsequent computational analyses, the identified loci showed enrichment for genes expressed in vascular and smooth muscle tissues, consistent with a predominant theory of migraine that highlights vascular etiologies.