Differential activation of the middle-temporal complex to visual stimulation in migraineurs.
OBJECTIVE
Differences between people with and without migraine on various measures of visual perception have been attributed to abnormal cortical processing due to the disease. The aim of the present study was to explore the dynamics of the basic interictal state with regard to the extrastriate, motion-responsive middle temporal area (MT-complex) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 tesla using coherent/incoherent moving dot stimuli.


METHODS
Twenty-four migraine patients (12 with aura [MwA], 12 without aura [MwoA]) and 12 healthy subjects participated in the study. The individual cortical folding pattern was accounted for by using a cortical matching approach.


RESULTS
In the inferior-posterior portion of the MT-complex, most likely representing MT, control subjects showed stronger bilateral activation compared to MwA and MwoA patients. Compared with healthy controls MwoA and MwA patients showed significantly stronger activation mainly at the left side in response to visual stimulation in the superior-anterior portion of the MT-complex, representing the medial-superior temporal area (MST).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings strengthen the hypothesis that hyperresponsiveness of the visual cortex in migraine goes beyond early visual areas, even in the interictal period.
Antal
Andrea
A
Georg-August University of Göttingen, Robert Koch Straße 40, Göttingen, Germany. AAntal@gwdg.de
Polania
Rafael
R
Saller
Katharina
K
Morawetz
Carmen
C
Schmidt-Samoa
Carsten
C
Baudewig
Jürgen
J
Paulus
Walter
W
Dechent
Peter
P
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology