triptan
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Triptans are a family of antimigraine drugs used to abort migraines and cluster headaches. While effective at treating individual headaches, they do not provide preventive treatment and are not curative. They are not effective for the treatment of tension–type headache, except in persons who also experience migraines. Triptans do not relieve other kinds of pain. They are taken orally and by other routes.
Key facts
- Drug class.Name
- Triptans
- Drug class.Image
- Sumatriptan.svg
- Drug class.Width
- 250px
- Drug class.ImageClass
- skin-invert-image
- Drug class.Caption
- Chemical structure of sumatriptan, the prototypical triptan
- Drug class.Use
- Migraine, cluster headache
- Drug class.Biological_target
- Serotonin 5-HT1B, 5-HT1D, and 5-HT1F receptors
- Drug class.ATC_prefix
- N02CC
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- Commons category
- Triptans
Sources (2)
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~19 min read
Article
18 sectionsContents
- Medical uses
- Migraine
- Correct timing of intake
- Cluster headache
- Altitude sickness
- Available forms
- Contraindications
- Adverse effects
- Interactions
- Pharmacology
- Mechanism of action
- Pharmacokinetics
- Comparison
- Chemistry
- History
- Society and culture
- Legal status
- References
Triptans are a family of antimigraine drugs used to abort migraines and cluster headaches. While effective at treating individual headaches, they do not provide preventive treatment and are not curative. They are not effective for the treatment of tension–type headache, except in persons who also experience migraines. Triptans do not relieve other kinds of pain. They are taken orally and by other routes.
The drugs of this class act as agonists for serotonin 5-HT1B and 5-HT1D receptors at blood vessels and nerve endings in the brain. Some also activate the 5-HT1F receptor. Structurally, triptans are substituted tryptamines or closely related to tryptamines, for instance the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT).