title: Subclinical cerebellar dysfunction in patients with migraine: evidence from eyeblink conditioning.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinical findings suggest cerebellar dysfunction in patients with migraine. Eyeblink classical conditioning (EBCC) is a simple form of associative learning which depends on the integrity of the cerebellum. The aim of this study was to assess whether EBCC is disturbed in patients with migraine.
  
  
  METHODS
  A delay conditioning paradigm was used in the headache-free interval in 32 female patients with migraine, in 24 of them without (MwoA) and eight with aura (MwA), and in 32 age-matched female controls. As primary outcome measure acquisition and as secondary outcome measures timing and extinction of conditioned eyeblink responses (CR) were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CR acquisition was significantly reduced in all migraine patients (mean total CR incidence 35.2 ± 22.1%) compared to controls (54.7 ± 21.3%; p < 0.001; Bonferroni-corrected p level < 0.025) and in MwA patients (19.9 ± 20.2%) compared to matched controls (58.2 ± 27.0%; p = 0.006) but not in MwoA patients (40.3 ± 20.6%) compared to matched controls (53.6 ± 19.7%; p = 0.028; Bonferroni-corrected p level < 0.0166). Decrease of CR incidences in MwA patients was not significantly different compared to MwoA patients (p = 0.021; Bonferroni-corrected p level < 0.0166). CR timing and extinction was not affected in migraine patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reduced acquisition of CRs in the cohort of female patients studied here supports findings of a cerebellar dysfunction in migraine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany marcus.gerwig@uk-essen.de.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gerwig
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rauschen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany Migraine and Headache Clinic Königstein, Germany.
authors.forename: Charly
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaul
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany Department of Neurology, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Unna, Germany.
authors.forename: Zaza
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Katsarava
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Timmann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D002526:Cerebellar Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004576:Electromyography; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Migraine; associative learning; cerebellum; eyeblink conditioning