Researchers from Bradford University are aiming to help millions of headache sufferers across the world by discovering the cause of migraine.

A team from the School of Pharmacy has been granted £60,000 from the Migraine Trust to investigate the "aura" before an attack.

Caused by neurological abnormalities in the brain, the aura can lead to disturbances in speech, gaps or 'zig zags' in vision and even lack of movement about half an hour before a migraine.

The study will be led by Dr Tiho Obrenovitch who will examine possible causes such as an increase in blood flow before an attack and the presence of nitric body produced by the body.

Director of The Migraine Trust Ann Rush said the aura was a fascinating feature of migraine.

She said: "One of the things that we were looking at at our last symposium was a link between aura and Picasso's paintings - it seems to be quite a feature of his work," she said. "And when the author Lewis Carroll talks about heads growing larger and cats disappearing, we think that he was experience migraine.

"The aura has been studied in detail as it is so striking. However, the things that Dr Obrenovitch is looking at have not been studied before so we're hoping that it's going to lead to some useful treatment and find the causes behind attacks."

Migraine is a moderate to severe headache lasting up to 72 hours and is often accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to light and noise.

Dr Obrenovitch said the aura preceding an attack was due to a breakdown of balance in the brain cells.

"Inhibition of this event should effectively prevent the development of the headache at its origin, rather than suppressing only the pain as the current treatments do," he said.

For more information, log on to The Migraine Trust's website at www.migrainetrust.org.