5-HT IN MIGRAINE - AN INTRODUCTION

Of the many factors that have been implicated from time to time in the pathophysiology of migraine, none seems to have a better claim than 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotonin). Advances in the understanding of the role of 5-HT in migraine and in the pharmacology of this amine have now resulted in the development of the drug, sumatriptan, for the treatment of migraine. Since this drug is a selective agonist at a particular type of 5-HT1-like receptors [5], it is desirable to sketch the current views on the classification and nomenclature of 5-HT receptors.