A Hypothalamic Mechanism Regulates the Duration of a Migraine Attack: Insights from Microstructural and Temporal Complexity of Cortical Functional Networks Analysis

The role of the hypothalamus and the limbic system at the onset of a migraine attack has recently received significant interest. We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters of the entire hypothalamus and its subregions in 15 patients during a spontaneous migraine attack and in 20 control s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2022-11, Vol.23 (21), p.13238
Main Authors: Porcaro, Camillo, Di Renzo, Antonio, Tinelli, Emanuele, Parisi, Vincenzo, Di Lorenzo, Cherubino, Caramia, Francesca, Fiorelli, Marco, Giuliani, Giada, Cioffi, Ettore, Seri, Stefano, Di Piero, Vittorio, Pierelli, Francesco, Di Lorenzo, Giorgio, Coppola, Gianluca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognition
Correlation
Correlation analysis
Diffusivity
Fractal geometry
Fractals
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Headache
Hypothalamus
Hypothalamus (anterior)
Limbic system
Migraine
Neural networks
Pain
Patients
Plasticity
Values
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Summary:The role of the hypothalamus and the limbic system at the onset of a migraine attack has recently received significant interest. We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters of the entire hypothalamus and its subregions in 15 patients during a spontaneous migraine attack and in 20 control subjects. We also estimated the non-linear measure resting-state functional MRI BOLD signal’s complexity using Higuchi fractal dimension (FD) and correlated DTI/fMRI findings with patients’ clinical characteristics. In comparison with healthy controls, patients had significantly altered diffusivity metrics within the hypothalamus, mainly in posterior ROIs, and higher FD values in the salience network (SN). We observed a positive correlation of the hypothalamic axial diffusivity with migraine severity and FD of SN. DTI metrics of bilateral anterior hypothalamus positively correlated with the mean attack duration. Our results show plastic structural changes in the hypothalamus related to the attacks severity and the functional connectivity of the SN involved in the multidimensional neurocognitive processing of pain. Plastic changes to the hypothalamus may play a role in modulating the duration of the attack.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms232113238