The Effects of a Long-lasting Infusion of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) in Episodic Migraine Patients

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a peptide of 28 amino acid residues that belongs to the glucagon/secretin superfamily of peptides. Along with other neuropeptides, such as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), it is released from the trigeminal afferents and exerts a strong vasodilating activity on the cranial vasculature. Especially, it shares 70% structure with PACAP and acts on the same receptors. But, unlike it, VIP cannot induce a long-lasting vasodilation and has a modest capability to induce migraine attacks. Whether it may induce migraine-like attacks in migraine patients, as a twenty-minute infusion of PACAP, is unknown.