Differences in short-term primary motor cortex synaptic potentiation as assessed by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in migraine patients with and without aura

Pain. 2010 Jan;148(1):43-48. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2009.09.031. Epub 2009 Oct 24.

Abstract

To find out more about glutamatergic and gabaergic transmission in migraine, in this study we investigated glutamate-dependent short-term synaptic potentiation and GABA-dependent inhibitory cortical interneuron excitability as assessed by 5Hz-rTMS delivered over primary motor cortex (M1) (motor evoked potential, MEP, amplitude facilitation and cortical silent period, CSP, duration lengthening) in migraine patients with (MA) and without aura (MwoA) and healthy controls. We studied 37 patients with migraine (19 MA and 18 MwoA) and 19 healthy control subjects. 5Hz-rTMS was delivered at 120% resting motor threshold to the hand motor area of the left hemisphere with the target muscle at rest and during contraction. Three of the MA patients were also tested at the end of visual aura during a spontaneous migraine attack. ANOVA showed that the MEP significantly increased in size and CSP significantly lengthened during 5Hz-rTMS in the three groups tested. The 5Hz-rTMS-induced MEP facilitation differed significantly being highest in MA patients. In the three patients tested both ictally and interictally the MEP increased during the interictal session but remained unchanged when the visual aura ended. Our study shows that the neurophysiological feature that differentiates MA patients from MwoA patients and healthy controls is an abnormal M1 susceptibility to 5Hz-rTMS both outside and during the attack suggesting that glutamate-dependent short-term M1 cortical potentiation patterns differ in migraine with and without aura.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Cortical Spreading Depression / physiology*
  • Electromyography / methods
  • Evoked Potentials, Motor / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Migraine with Aura / pathology*
  • Migraine without Aura / pathology*
  • Motor Cortex / physiopathology*
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation