Impaired brainstem and thalamic high-frequency oscillatory EEG activity in migraine between attacks

Introduction We investigated whether interictal thalamic dysfunction in migraine without aura (MO) patients is a primary determinant or the expression of its functional disconnection from proximal or distal areas along the somatosensory pathway. Methods Twenty MO patients and twenty healthy voluntee...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cephalalgia 2017-09, Vol.37 (10), p.915-926
Main Authors: Porcaro, Camillo, Di Lorenzo, Giorgio, Seri, Stefano, Pierelli, Francesco, Tecchio, Franca, Coppola, Gianluca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Brain Stem - physiopathology
Electroencephalography - methods
Electroencephalography - trends
Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory - physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Migraine without Aura - diagnosis
Migraine without Aura - physiopathology
Thalamus - physiopathology
Young Adult
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Summary:Introduction We investigated whether interictal thalamic dysfunction in migraine without aura (MO) patients is a primary determinant or the expression of its functional disconnection from proximal or distal areas along the somatosensory pathway. Methods Twenty MO patients and twenty healthy volunteers (HVs) underwent an electroencephalographic (EEG) recording during electrical stimulation of the median nerve at the wrist. We used the functional source separation algorithm to extract four functionally constrained nodes (brainstem, thalamus, primary sensory radial, and primary sensory motor tangential parietal sources) along the somatosensory pathway. Two digital filters (1–400 Hz and 450–750 Hz) were applied in order to extract low- (LFO) and high- frequency (HFO) oscillatory activity from the broadband signal. Results Compared to HVs, patients presented significantly lower brainstem (BS) and thalamic (Th) HFO activation bilaterally. No difference between the two cortical HFO as well as in LFO peak activations between the two groups was seen. The age of onset of the headache was positively correlated with HFO power in the right brainstem and thalamus. Conclusions This study provides evidence for complex dysfunction of brainstem and thalamocortical networks under the control of genetic factors that might act by modulating the severity of migraine phenotype.
ISSN:0333-1024
1468-2982
DOI:10.1177/0333102416657146