Propagation of chaos and commotion in the wake of cortical spreading depression and spreading depolarizations

Punctuated episodes of spreading depolarizations erupt in brain, encumber tissue structure and function, and raise fascinating unanswered questions concerning their initiation and propagation. Linked to migraine aura and headache, cortical spreading depression contributes to the morbidity in the world's migraine with aura population. Even more ominous, erupting spreading depolarizations accelerate tissue damage during brain injury. The view challenging their existence in human brain has changed now largely driven by the discovery of migraine genes that confer cortical spreading depression susceptibility, by the application of sophisticated imaging tools, and by efforts to interrogate their impact in the acutely injured human brain.