Abstract
ObjectiveThe present study aimed to preliminary explore the abnormal neuromagnetic activation in female migraine patients between attacks using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and pattern reversed visual evoked magnetic fields (PR-VEFs).MethodsA total of 17 female migraine subjects during the headache-free phase and 17 healthy controls (HC) were studied using a 275-channel magnetoencephalography (MEG) system. In this study, visual evoked magnetic fields (VEFs) were generated by a pattern-reversal check as the visual stimulus. The average of 100 VEFs was evolved by different half patterns were averaged and used to analyze waveform, spectrum, and source location within two frequency ranges (5–100 and 100–1000 Hz), respectively.ResultsIn migraine subjects, the latency of second peak of VEFs (VIIs) showed significant prolongations when compared with HC. On the sensor level, the cortical spectral power in migraine subjects was similar to that of HC in the 5–100 Hz range and was lower in the 1000–1000 Hz range. There was a decrement of source strength in the visual cortex in migraine patients when compared to HC in both the 5–100 and 100–1000 Hz frequency range. Moreover, there was a similar odds of activation in 5–100 and 100–1000 Hz frequency ranges in the area beyond the primary visual cortex between the two groups. In addition, no correlation was observed between clinical data (intensity of headache, headache-history duration, the frequency of headaches) and MEG results.ConclusionsThe findings presented in the current study, suggested that interictal cortical activation following a visual stimulus was low in female migraine patients. The low pre-activation was detected in the visual cortex using VEF and MEG in both low and high-frequency band. Our results add to the existing evidence that cortical interictal excitability change may be relative to the pain-module mechanism in migraine brains. Thus, our data improved the apprehension of the cortical disorder of migraine in the high-frequency domain.
Highlights
Migraine is a common, disabling neurological disorder, clinically manifested by episodes of moderate to severe episodic pain that are accompanied by autonomic nervous system dysfunction [1]
We aimed to investigate the signature of aberrant visual evoked neuromagnetic activation on the level of different frequency ranges in female subjects with migraine without aura (MwoA) using MEG and a reversal checkboard pattern (PR-visual evoked magnetic fields (VEFs))
In the 5–100 Hz range, the latency of visual-evolved neuromagnetic responses especially the major component (VIIs) from migraine subjects was significantly prolonged when compared with healthy controls (HC) following both left and right visual stimulus
Summary
Migraine is a common, disabling neurological disorder, clinically manifested by episodes of moderate to severe episodic pain that are accompanied by autonomic nervous system dysfunction [1]. Recent reports have shown that dysfunctions of the cerebral cortex and. Zhou et al The Journal of Headache and Pain (2019) 20:7 brain-stem or diencephalic are fundamental in the underlying mechanism of migraine [6, 7]. Albeit the essential role the visual cortex may plat in the pathophysiology of migraine, electrophysiological experiments have failed to consistently conclude on the changes in excitability of migraine brains throughout the periodic stage of migraine [11, 12], the cerebral mechanisms underlying such differences remain unclear
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