Abnormal thalamocortical network dynamics in migraine

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the dynamic functional connectivity of thalamocortical networks in interictal migraine patients and whether clinical features are associated with abnormal connectivity.MethodsWe investigated dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) of the migraine brain in 89 interictal migraine patients and 70 healthy controls. We focused on the temporal properties of thalamocortical connectivity using sliding window cross-correlation, clustering state analysis, and graph-theory methods. Relationships between clinical symptoms and abnormal dFNC were evaluated using a multivariate linear regression model.ResultsFive dFNC brain states were identified to characterize and compare dynamic functional connectivity patterns. We demonstrated that migraineurs spent more time in a strongly interconnected between-network state, but they spent less time in a sparsely connected state. Interestingly, we found that abnormal posterior thalamus (pulvinar nucleus) dFNC with the visual cortex and the precuneus were significantly correlated with headache frequency of migraine. Further topologic measures revealed that migraineurs had significantly lower efficiency of information transfer in both global and local dFNC.ConclusionOur results demonstrated a transient pathologic state with atypical thalamocortical connectivity in migraineurs and extended current findings regarding abnormal thalamocortical networks and dysrhythmia in migraine.

Aberrant activation within auditory network is associated with psychiatric comorbidities in interictal migraineurs without aura

“…Both groups demonstrated an auditory network pattern, as previously reported in the literature (Figure 1) [19]. The inter-group comparison revealed signi cantly increased neural activation within the left auditory cortex, including the insula, postcentral gyrus (PoCG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) with FDR correction (q < 0.001), in patients with MwoA compared with HC ( Figure 2, Table 3).…”

“…The spatial components for all participants were acquired and converted to z-score maps. Finally, the auditory network was selected from 25 aggregate spatial independent components by visual inspection and based on a previous study [19]. To estimate intra-group spatial consistency, we performed one-sample t-tests to analyse the distribution of the auditory network for MwoA and HC, and the t-maps are reported for comparisons surviving the threshold of p < 0.001 (FWE corrected).…”

Tools of the trade: Estimating time-varying connectivity patterns from fMRI data

“…Meta-state analysis (see Window-based approaches (WBAs) for definition) also show reduced dynamism in CI-MS patients (d'Ambrosio et al, 2019). Atypical dFC patterns present in other cohorts and brain disorders, including migraine (Tu et al, 2019), stroke , epilepsy (Douw et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2017;Klugah-Brown et al, 2019), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Ou et al, 2014;de Lacy and Calhoun, 2019), post-traumatic stress disorder Jin et al, 2017), frontotemporal dementia (Premi et al, 2019), and Lewy body dementia (Schumacher et al, 2019).…”

Altered hypothalamus functional connectivity with limbic system in fibromyalgia and the modulation effect of intervention

“…The lateral thalamocortical pathway is involved in coding the sensory discriminative aspects of pain, while the medial thalamocortical pathway codes the emotional qualities of pain [35] . Literature suggests that the anatomical and biochemical alterations in thalamocortical circuits may be responsible for the development of chronic pain [35][36][37] . The thalamus observed in our study extends from the medial portion to the lateral portion, suggesting alterations of both sensory and emotional aspects in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia.…”