Why the study?
Functional connectivity analyses have shown abnormal pain-processing interactions in episodic migraine, motivating investigation of resting-state functional connectivity patterns combining voxel-wise degree centrality and seed-based analysis.
Does resting-state functional connectivity differ in patients with episodic migraine without aura compared to healthy controls?
Does resting-state functional connectivity differ in patients with episodic migraine without aura compared to healthy controls?
Patients with episodic migraine without aura exhibit increased functional connectivity with the right posterior insula and decreased connectivity within the default mode network, which may underlie disturbed sensory integration and cognitive processing of pain.
Abnormal DC/FC patterns in episodic migraine may reflect network dysfunction; leaves open diagnostic or therapeutic utility pending prospective validation.
Background: Hypothesis-driven functional connectivity (FC) analyses have revealed abnormal functional interaction of regions or networks involved in pain processing in episodic migraine patients. We aimed to investigate the resting-state FC patterns in episodic migraine by combining data-driven voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) calculation and seed-based FC analysis. Methods: Thirty-nine patients suffering from episodic migraine without aura and 35 healthy controls underwent clinical assessment and functional MRI. DC was analyzed in a voxel-wise way and compared between groups, and FC of regions with DC differences were further examined using a seed-based approach. Results: Compared with control group, the migraine group showed increased and decreased DC in the right posterior insula and left crus I, respectively. Seed-based FC analyses revealed that migraine patients demonstrated increased right posterior insula connections with the postcentral gyrus, supplementary motor area/paracentral lobule, fusiform gyrus and temporal pole. The left crus I showed decreased FC with regions of the default mode network (DMN), including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), angular gyrus, medial and lateral temporal cortex in patients with migraine. Furthermore, pain intensity positively correlated with DC in the right amygdala/parahippocampal gyrus, and migraine frequency negatively correlated with FC between the left curs I and mPFC. Conclusion: Patients with episodic migraine without aura have increased FC with the right posterior insula and decreased FC within the DMN, which may underlie disturbed sensory integration and cognitive processing of pain. The left crus I-mPFC connectivity may be a useful biomarker for assessing migraine frequency.
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Ke et al. (2020) studied this question.
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