Abstract
Previous studies targeting inter-individual differences in pain processing in migraine mainly focused on the perception of pain. Our main aim was to disentangle pain anticipation and perception using a classical fear conditioning task, and investigate how migraine frequency and pre-scan cortisol-to-dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) ratio as an index of neurobiological stress response would relate to neural activation in these two phases. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data of 23 participants (18 females; mean age: 27.61± 5.36) with episodic migraine without aura were analysed. We found that migraine frequency was significantly associated with pain anticipation in brain regions comprising the midcingulate and caudate, whereas pre-scan cortisol-to DHEA-S ratio was related to pain perception in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA). Both results suggest exaggerated preparatory responses to pain or more general to stressors, which may contribute to the allostatic load caused by stressors and migraine attacks on the brain.
Highlights
Migraine, as one of the most debilitating diseases [1], is considered to be a complex neurological disorder characterized by subtle changes in functioning of the brain which is related to variations in the structure and connectivity of specific brain areas [2,3,4]
In the context of pre-scan stress, we considered that cortisol-to-dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) ratio reflects inter-individual differences in stress responsivity to a new and potentially stressful situation, and assumed that this ratio, as an index of neuroendocrine stress reaction, would influence functional activation to pain anticipation and pain perception
Based on previous studies we tested whether migraine frequency correlated with BOLD signal in the pain perception period, and we explored its relationship with pain anticipation using whole-brain regression analyses
Summary
As one of the most debilitating diseases [1], is considered to be a complex neurological disorder characterized by subtle changes in functioning of the brain which is related to variations in the structure and connectivity of specific brain areas [2,3,4].
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