Disrupted functional connectivity between sub-regions in the sensorimotor areas and cortex in migraine without aura

Abstract

Background: Migraine is a severe and disabling brain disorder, and the exact neurological mechanisms remain unclear. Migraineurs have altered pain perception, and headache attacks disrupt their sensory information processing and sensorimotor integration. The altered functional connectivity of sub-regions of sensorimotor brain areas with other brain cortex associated with migraine needs further investigation. Methods: Forty-eight migraineurs without aura during the interictal phase and 48 age-and sex-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. We utilized seed-based functional connectivity analysis to investigate whether patients exhibited abnormal functional connectivity between subregions of sensorimotor brain areas and cortex regions. Results: We found that patients with migraineurs without aura exhibited disrupted functional connectivities between the sensorimotor areas and the visual cortex, temporal cortex, posterior parietal lobule, prefrontal areas, precuneus, cingulate gyrus, sensorimotor areas proper and cerebellum areas compared with healthy controls. In addition, the clinical data of the patients, such as disease duration, pain intensity and HIT-6 score, were negatively correlated with these impaired functional connectivities. Conclusion: In patients with migraineurs without aura, the functional connectivities between the sensorimotor brain areas and other brain regions was reduced. These disrupted functional connectivities might contribute to abnormalities in visual processing, multisensory integration, nociception processing, spatial attention and intention and dysfunction in cognitive evaluation and modulation of pain. Recurrent headache attacks might lead to the disrupted network between primary motor cortex and temporal regions and between primary somatosensory cortex and temporal regions. Pain sensitivity and patient quality of life are closely tied to the abnormal functional connectivity between sensorimotor regions and other brain areas.

Applying a biopsychosocial model to migraine: rationale and clinical implications

“…Interestingly, the same technique also showed a heightened connection between sensory areas and areas regulating affective processes including the limbic system [ 25 – 28 ], which is implied in pain processing and in the regulation of emotional life. This may explain migraineurs’ susceptibility to external triggers causing sensory overload; those triggers may modify brain circuits functioning [ 29 – 31 ]. Individuals with migraine show a decreased threshold for several sensory stimuli, including sensory, pain, thermal, visual, auditory, and olfactory ones, which well correlates with the symptoms of increased sensitivity to light, noise, and odors reported by migraineurs not only during, but also between their attacks.…”

Functional connectivity changes in complex migraine aura: beyond the visual network

“…In particular, focusing on the intricacy of aura presentation, whilst the majority of MwA patients exclusively experience visual symptoms, a minority of patients report, along with visual phenomena, also somatosensory or dysphasic symptoms representing the so‐called ‘complex aura’ [ 3 ]. In the latter, visual, somatosensory and dysphasic symptoms follow one another, usually beginning with visual, then somatosensory and finally motor or aphasic manifestations [ 18 ].…”

Disrupted White Matter Functional Connectivity With the Cerebral Cortex in Migraine Patients

“…These GM regions are believed to play critical roles in the pathophysiology of migraines. Our previous study indicated disrupted functional connectivity between the thalamus, sensorimotor areas, posterior pons, and other migraine-relevant brain regions in MWoA patients ( Qin et al, 2020a , b , c ). We speculated that the disrupted functional connections of the cortical regions in migraine patients may be due to the abnormal functional coupling between GM regions and WM regions.…”