Magnetic Therapy and Migraine Headache; a pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research bibliography.

Pulsed magnetic therapy beneficially affects migraine abnormal brain electrophysiology, which is present to one extent or another in headache syndromes of all types.

Extensive research throughout the published literature (see pulsed magnetic therapy/migraine study bibliography below) suggests there are electrophysiological abnormalities that coexist with many different types of neurological disease states which can be positively affected by magnetic therapy including;

Alzheimer's, epilepsy, Parkinson's, cluster and other headache syndromes, severe PMS and other exaggerated menstrual related symptoms, insomnia and other sleeping disorders, attention deficit disorder ADD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD, depression, schizophrenia and other psychological disorders.
Pulsed magnetic field research suggests that pulsed electromagnetic field therapy can reduce migraine as well as induce sleep and relaxation in insomniacs.  Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS/rTMS) research has proven for decades that pulsed electromagnetic fields safely reduce anxiety and depression using magnetic fields that are hundreds, even thousands of times the magnetic field density used to produce deep, restful sleep and improved sense of wellbeing induced through EarthPulse magnetic field supplementation.

92% of EarthPulse™ clients report better sleep and recovery (due in part to their better sleep) simply by sleeping within our very subtle, proprietary pulsed magnetic field which is matched to Planet Earth's geomagnetic field density and frequencies. Curious side effects are enhanced wellbeing, substantially enhanced recovery, strength, stamina, hand-eye, balance and motor synchronization.

Published research suggests that human disorders of many types are related by electromagnetic anomalies in the brain and body. The application of pulsed electromagnetic fields of particular frequency and field density seem to be able to safely address the problem, at least in significant part.


Several hundred pulsed electromagnetic field therapy citations contained in our research bibliographies are linked directly to PubMed a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

These studies are offered for your education only and are not intended as promotional material for EarthPulse™ Technologies, LLC.

See also; Sandyk R, Anninos PA , Jacobson JI; three pioneers of electromagnetic field therapy to treat Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and epilepsy.

PEMF Background:

introduction to electromedicine

brain wave entrainment

brain wave entrainment II


Research Bibliographies:

arthritis and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

athletic performance enhancement and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

Alzheimer's disease and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

back pain and EarthPulse™ v.2.3

bone / connective tissue regeneration and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

depression and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

EMF - electropollution research (your brain and your wireless technologies)

epilepsy and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

fibromyalgia and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

insomnia and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

migraine headache and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

multiple sclerosis and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

nerve regeneration and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

neuropathy and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

osteoporosis and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

pain and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

Parkinson's disease and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

stroke and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

tinnitus and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy research

transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS / TMS) research


EarthPulse research:

video evidence

client feedback forms

chronic lower back pain/sleep

news



J Headache Pain. 2006 Oct;7(5):341-6. Epub 2006 Oct 25. Links
Transcranial magnetic stimulation for migraine: clinical effects.
Clarke BM, Upton AR, Kamath MV, Al-Harbi T, Castellanos CM.
Division of Neurology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Acta Neurol Belg. 2003 Sep;103(3):144-54.Links
Transcranial magnetic stimulation in migraine: a review of facts and controversies.
Fumal A, Bohotin V, Vandenheede M, Schoenen J.
Departments of Neurology and Neuroanatomy, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.

Med Hypotheses. 2002 Dec;59(6):703-5.
Cellular telephones and effects on the brain: the head as an antenna and brain tissue as a radio receiver.
Weinberger Z, Richter ED.
Jerusalem College of Technology, Jerusalem, Israel.
Headache and other neuropsychological symptoms occur in users of cellular telephones, and controversy exists concerning risks for brain cancer. We hypothesize these effects result from the head serving as an antenna and brain tissue as a radio receiver.

Adv Ther. 2001 May-Jun;18(3):101-9.
Impulse magnetic-field therapy for migraine and other headaches: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Pelka RB, Jaenicke C, Gruenwald J.
Universitat der Bundeswehr Munchen Munich, Germany.

Headache. 1999 Sep;39(8):567-75.
Treatment of migraine with pulsing electromagnetic fields: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Sherman RA, Acosta NM, Robson L.
Orthopedic Surgery Service, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA 98431, USA.

Headache. 1998 Mar;38(3):208-13.
Initial exploration of pulsing electromagnetic fields for treatment of migraine.
Sherman RA, Robson L, Marden LA.
Service of Orthopedic Surgery, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash. 98431, USA.

 
1:  Ambrosini A, Schoenen J. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract The electrophysiology of migraine. 
Curr Opin Neurol. 2003 Jun;16(3):327-31. Review. 

PMID: 12858069 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
2:  Schoenen J, Ambrosini A, Sandor PS, Maertens de Noordhout A. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Evoked potentials and transcranial magnetic stimulation in migraine: published data and viewpoint on their pathophysiologic significance. 
Clin Neurophysiol. 2003 Jun;114(6):955-72. Review. 

PMID: 12804664 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
3:  Bohotin V, Fumal A, Vandenheede M, Bohotin C, Schoenen J. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Excitability of visual V1-V2 and motor cortices to single transcranial magnetic stimuli in migraine: a reappraisal using a figure-of-eight coil. 
Cephalalgia. 2003 May;23(4):264-70. 

PMID: 12716343 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
4:  Aurora SK, Welch KM, Al-Sayed F. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract The threshold for phosphenes is lower in migraine. 
Cephalalgia. 2003 May;23(4):258-63. 

PMID: 12716342 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
5:  Ambrosini A, de Noordhout AM, Sandor PS, Schoenen J. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Electrophysiological studies in migraine: a comprehensive review of their interest and limitations. 
Cephalalgia. 2003;23 Suppl 1:13-31. Review. 

PMID: 12699456 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
6:  Mulleners W, Chronicle E, Vredeveld J, Koehler P. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Visual cortex excitability in migraine before and after valproate prophylaxis: a pilot study using TMS. 
Headache. 2003 Mar;43(3):304. 

PMID: 12603670 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

 
7:  Ozturk V, Cakmur R, Donmez B, Yener GG, Kursad F, Idiman F. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Comparison of cortical excitability in chronic migraine (transformed migraine) and migraine without aura. A transcranial magnetic stimulation study. 
J Neurol. 2002 Sep;249(9):1268-71. 

PMID: 12242552 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
8:  Brighina F, Piazza A, Daniele O, Fierro B. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Modulation of visual cortical excitability in migraine with aura: effects of 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. 
Exp Brain Res. 2002 Jul;145(2):177-81. Epub 2002 May 09. 

PMID: 12110957 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
9:  Battelli L, Black KR, Wray SH. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Transcranial magnetic stimulation of visual area V5 in migraine. 
Neurology. 2002 Apr 9;58(7):1066-9. 

PMID: 11940694 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
10:  Bohotin V, Fumal A, Vandenheede M, Gerard P, Bohotin C, Maertens de Noordhout A, Schoenen J. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on visual evoked potentials in migraine. 
Brain. 2002 Apr;125(Pt 4):912-22. 

PMID: 11912123 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
11:  Mulleners WM, Chronicle EP, Vredeveld JW, Koehler PJ. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Visual cortex excitability in migraine before and after valproate prophylaxis: a pilot study using TMS. 
Eur J Neurol. 2002 Jan;9(1):35-40. 

PMID: 11784374 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
12:  Mulleners WM, Chronicle EP, Palmer JE, Koehler PJ, Vredeveld JW. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Visual cortex excitability in migraine with and without aura. 
Headache. 2001 Jun;41(6):565-72. 

PMID: 11437892 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
13:  Aurora SK, Cao Y, Bowyer SM, Welch KM. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract The occipital cortex is hyperexcitable in migraine: experimental evidence. 
Headache. 1999 Jul-Aug;39(7):469-76. 

PMID: 11279929 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
14:  Mulleners WM, Chronicle EP, Palmer JE, Koehler PJ, Vredeveld JW. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Suppression of perception in migraine: evidence for reduced inhibition in the visual cortex. 
Neurology. 2001 Jan 23;56(2):178-83. 

PMID: 11160952 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
15:  Cutrer FM, O'Donnell A, Sanchez del Rio M. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Functional neuroimaging: enhanced understanding of migraine pathophysiology. 
Neurology. 2000;55(9 Suppl 2):S36-45. Review. 

PMID: 11089518 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
16:  Werhahn KJ, Wiseman K, Herzog J, Forderreuther S, Dichgans M, Straube A. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Motor cortex excitability in patients with migraine with aura and hemiplegic migraine. 
Cephalalgia. 2000 Feb;20(1):45-50. 

PMID: 10817446 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
17:  Afra J, Ambrosini A, Genicot R, Albert A, Schoenen J. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Influence of colors on habituation of visual evoked potentials in patients with migraine with aura and in healthy volunteers. 
Headache. 2000 Jan;40(1):36-40. 

PMID: 10759901 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
18:  Maertens de Noordhout A, Schoenen J. Related Articles,  Links
No abstract Transcranial magnetic stimulation in migraine. 
Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol Suppl. 1999;51:260-4. Review. No abstract available. 

PMID: 10590958 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
19:  Aurora SK, al-Sayeed F, Welch KM. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract The cortical silent period is shortened in migraine with aura. 
Cephalalgia. 1999 Oct;19(8):708-12. 

PMID: 10570724 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 
20: Cutrer FM, O'Donnell A. Related Articles,  Links
Abstract Recent advances in functional neuroimaging. 
Curr Opin Neurol. 1999 Jun;12(3):255-9. Review. 

PMID: 10499170 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Curr Opin Neurol. 2003 Jun;16(3):327-31.
The electrophysiology of migraine.
Ambrosini A, Schoenen J.
Headache Clinic, INM Neuromed, IRCCS, Pozzilli, Isernia, Italy.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The pathophysiology of migraine is far from being understood. Electrophysiological methods are useful to investigate peripheral and central mechanisms underlying this disorder. The purpose of this review is to highlight the results of electrophysiological studies published during the last year and to examine their added value to our previous knowledge. RECENT FINDINGS: Studies by visual and auditory evoked potentials and event-related responses suggested that lack of habituation is the principal interictal abnormality of sensory processing in migraineurs. Recently confirmed for somatosensory and laser-evoked cortical potentials and for brainstem responses, it is also responsible for the increased intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials. This abnormality is possibly caused by a reduced cortical preactivation level due to hypofunctioning subcortico-cortical aminergic pathways. Although studies of cortical excitability by transcranial magnetic stimulation have yielded conflicting results, results obtained using habituation of pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials to explore cortical excitability changes induced by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation strongly favour the hypothesis that migraine is characterized by a decreased level of preactivation excitability. With regard to pain mechanisms in migraine, electrophysiological studies of trigeminal pathways using nociceptive blink and corneal reflexes have confirmed that sensitization of central trigeminal nociceptors occurs during the attack, and may even persist interictally. SUMMARY: Scientific publications over the last year confirmed that electrophysiological methods are particularly suited to unravelling some of the pathophysiological mechanisms of migraine. To improve their future contribution, they need to be better standardized and to be correlated with behavioural, metabolic and genetic studies.
PMID: 12858069 [PubMed - in process]

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2: Cephalalgia. 2003;23 Suppl 1:13-31.  Related Articles, Links

Electrophysiological studies in migraine: a comprehensive review of their interest and limitations.
Ambrosini A, de Noordhout AM, Sandor PS, Schoenen J.
Headache Clinic, INM Neuromed, IRCCS, Pozzilli (Isernia),Italy.
Electrophysiological methods may help to unravel some of the pathophysiological mechanisms of migraine. Lack of habituation is the principal and most reproducible interictal abnormality in sensory processing in migraineurs. It is found in evoked potential (EP) studies for every stimulation modality including nociceptive stimuli, and it is likely to be responsible for the increased intensity dependence of EP. We have hypothesized that deficient EP habituation in migraine could be due to a reduced preactivation level of sensory cortices because of hypofunctioning subcortico-cortical aminergic pathways. This is not in keeping with simple hyperexcitability of the cortex, which has been suggested by some, but not all, studies of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). A recent study of the effects of repetitive TMS on visual EP strongly supports the hypothesis that migraine is characterized by interictal cortical hypoexcitability. With regard to pain mechanisms in migraine, electrophysiological studies of trigeminal pathways using nociceptive blink and corneal reflexes have confirmed that sensitization of central trigeminal nociceptors occurs during migraine attacks.
Publication Types:
* Review
* Review, Tutorial
 

PMID: 12699456 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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3: Clin Neurophysiol. 2003 Jun;114(6):955-72.  Related Articles, Links

Evoked potentials and transcranial magnetic stimulation in migraine: published data and viewpoint on their pathophysiologic significance.
Schoenen J, Ambrosini A, Sandor PS, Maertens de Noordhout A.
University Department of Neurology, CHR Citadelle, Blvd du XIIemede Ligne, 1-B-4000, Liege, Belgium. jean.schoenen@chrcitadelle.be
Migraine is a disorder in which central nervous sytem dysfunction might play a pivotal role. Electroneurophysiology seems thus particularly suited to study its pathophysiology. We have extensively reviewed evoked potential and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies performed in migraineurs in order to identify their pathophysiologic significance. Publications available to us were completed by a Medline search. Retrieved and personal data were compared with respect to methodology and interpreted according to present knowledge on cortical information processing. Results are in part contradictory which appears to be method-, patient- and disease- related. Nonetheless, both evoked potential and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies demonstrate that the cerebral cortex, and possibly subcortical structures, are dysfunctioning interictally in both migraine with and without aura. These electrophysiologic abnormalities tend to normalise just before and during an attack and some of them seem to have a clear familial and predisposing character. Besides the studies of magnetophosphenes which have yielded contrasting results, chiefly because the method is not sufficiently reliable, most recent electrophysiologic investigations of cortical activities in migraine favour deficient habituation and decreased preactivation cortical excitability as the predominant interictal dysfunctions. We propose that the former is a consequence of the latter and that it could favour both interictal cognitive disturbances as well as a cerebral metabolic disequilibrium that may play a role in migraine pathogenesis. To summarize, electrophysiologic studies demonstrate in migraine between attacks a cortical, and possibly subcortical, dysfunction of which the hallmark is deficient habituation.
PMID: 12804664 [PubMed - in process]

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4: Curr Opin Neurol. 2002 Jun;15(3):303-9.  Related Articles, Links

The electrophysiology of migraine.
Giffin NJ, Kaube H.
Headache Group, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
Migraine is currently regarded as a neurovascular disorder of trigeminal sensory processing, generated centrally, probably at the level of the brainstem. In the past, electrophysiological techniques have drawn no definite conclusions on either interictal or ictal changes in migraineurs compared with controls, largely because of methodological differences. Recently, two findings have been shown consistently: an interictal increasing lack of habituation of evoked potentials with a normalization at the start of the attack and strong intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials. These findings substantiate migraine sufferers as having an abnormal trait interictally, with the attack characterized by a change in the state of central processing. Exploitation of these differences may be a useful tool to study the mechanism of action of drugs used for the treatment of migraine.
Publication Types:
* Review
* Review, Tutorial
 

PMID: 12045729 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

5: Cephalalgia. 2000 Oct;20(8):714-9.  Related Articles, Links

Habituation of visual and intensity dependence of auditory evoked cortical potentials tends to normalize just before and during the migraine attack.
Judit A, Sandor PS, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.
Between attacks, migraine with (MO) or without aura (MA) patients show deficient habituation of pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEP) and a strong intensity dependence of auditory evoked cortical potentials (IDAP). Clinical observations of migraine prodromes and previously published electrophysiological studies suggest that cortical information processing may vary in close temporal relationship to the attack. We studied PR-VEP and IDAP just before (11 MO pts), during (23 MO, 3 MA), 1 day following (27 MO, 1 MA) and 2 days following (14 MO) a migraine attack. The results were compared with a large group of MO patients recorded at a distance of at least 3 days from an attack (n = 66 for IDAP; n = 39 for VEP). Patients recorded the day before the attack had on average an habituation of -13.6+/-20.5% (mean +/- SD) between the 5th and 1st block of 100 averaged VEP responses and a flat (0.38+/-1.06 microV/10 dB) amplitude-stimulus intensity function (ASF) slope of the auditory evoked cortical potential. Both values were significantly different from those obtained in the attack interval (P=0.003; P=0.020). During the attack, VEP habituation was less pronounced (-0.17+/-26.2%) and ASF slopes remained flat (0.32+/-1.44 microV/10 dB; P=0.002 compared to interval). During the 2 days following the attack, VEP habituation was replaced by potentiation (+0.09+/-29.1% the 1st day; 19.5+/-45.7% the 2nd day) and ASF slopes increased markedly (0.87+/-1.39 and 1.14+/-1.12 microV/10 dB). The normalization of evoked cortical responses just before and during the attack, might reflect an increase in the cortical preactivation level due to enhanced activity in raphe-cortical serotonergic pathways.
PMID: 11167900 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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6: Clin Neurosci. 1998;5(1):10-7.  Related Articles, Links

Cortical electrophysiology in migraine and possible pathogenetic implications.
Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, University of Liege, CHR Citadelle, Liege, Belgium. Schoenen.J@innet.be
According to recent evoked potential studies a fundamental, probably protective, feature of cortical information processing, i.e., response habituation during stimulus repetition, is abnormal in migraine between attacks. The deficient habituation is found for different sensory modalities and experimental paradigms: pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (same stimulus at a constant intensity), cortical auditory evoked potentials (same stimulus at increasing intensities), and auditory event-related potential obtained in a passive "oddball" paradigm (novel stimulus). The abnormal information processing is an interictal cortical dysfunction most likely due to inadequate control by the so-called "state-setting, chemically-addressed pathways" originating in the brain stem, in particular by the serotonergic pathway, leading to a low preactivation level of sensory cortices. We propose that it may play a pivotal role in migraine pathogenesis in conjunction with the reported decrease of brain mitochondrial energy reserve, by favouring a rupture of metabolic homeostasis and biochemical shifts capable of activating the trigeminovascular system and, thus, of producing a migraine attack. We postulate that both the deficient habituation in information processing and the deranged oxygen metabolism may have behavioral correlates. Which of these abnormalities are inherited, acquired, or both remains to be determined.
Publication Types:
* Review
* Review, Academic
 

PMID: 9523052 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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7: Biomed Pharmacother. 1996;50(2):71-8.  Related Articles, Links

Deficient habituation of evoked cortical potentials in migraine: a link between brain biology, behavior and trigeminovascular activation?
Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, University of Liege, Belgium.
According to recent evoked potential studies, a fundamental, probably protective, feature of cortical information processing, ie, response habituation during stimulus repetition, is abnormal in migraine between attacks. The deficient habituation is found for different sensory modalities and experimental paradigms: pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (same stimulus at a constant intensity), cortical auditory evoked potentials (same stimulus at increasing intensities) and auditory event-related potentials obtained in a passive "oddball" paradigm (novel stimulus). The abnormal information processing is an interictal cortical dysfunction most likely due to inadequate control by the so-called "state-setting, chemically-addressed pathways" originating in the brain stem, in particular by the serotonergic pathway, leading to a low preactivation level of sensory cortices. We suggest that it may play a pivotal role in migraine pathogenesis in conjunction with the reported decrease of brain mitochondrial energy reserve, by favouring a rupture of metabolic homeostasis and biochemical shifts capable of activating the trigeminovascular system and thus capable of producing a migraine attack. We postulate that both the deficient habituation in information processing and the deranged oxygen metabolism may have behavioral correlates. Which of these abnormalities are inherited, acquired or both remains to be determined.
Publication Types:
* Review
* Review, Tutorial
 

PMID: 8761712 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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8: Clin Neurophysiol. 2000 Jun;111(6):1124-9.  Related Articles, Links

Comparison of visual and auditory evoked cortical potentials in migraine patients between attacks.
Afra J, Proietti Cecchini A, Sandor PS, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology Semmelweis University of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.
OBJECTIVE: As both habituation of pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEP) (Schoenen J, Wang W, Albert A, Delwaide PJ. Potentiation instead of habituation characterizes visual evoked potentials in migraine patients between attacks. Eur J Neurol 1995;2:115-122) and intensity dependence of auditory evoked cortical potentials (IDAP) (Wang W, Timsit-Berthier M, Schoenen J. Intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials in migraine: an indication of cortical potentiation and low serotonergic neurotransmission? Neurology 1996;46:1404-1409) were found abnormal in migraine between attacks, we have searched for intraindividual correlations between both tests in 59 migraine patients (22 with aura [MA], 37 without aura [MO]) and in 23 healthy volunteers (HV). METHODS: Amplitude change of the PR-VEP N1-P1 was measured between the 1st and 5th block of 50 sequential averagings during continuous stimulation at 3.1 Hz. IDAP was computed from N1-P2 amplitudes of 100 averagings during stimulations at 40, 50, 60 and 70 dB SL. Amplitude-stimulus intensity function (ASF) slopes and amplitude changes between 40 and 70 dB were calculated. MO and MA differed from HV in PR-VEP amplitude change (P=0.007) and IDAP slope (P = 0.0004). RESULTS: There was no significant correlation between VEP amplitude changes and IDAP slopes, nor between the latter two and attack frequency or disease duration. A negative correlation was found between the amplitude of the first block of averaged responses and potentiation of VEP in all subject groups (P = 0.03) as well as between the amplitude of the auditory evoked potential, at 40 dB, and the percentage of amplitude increase between 40 and 70 dB in MO (P = 0.004) and MA (P = 0.007). ASF slopes and 40 dB amplitudes were significantly correlated only in the MA group (P = 0.002). These results confirm the interictal deficit of habituation in cortical processing of repetitive visual and auditory information in migraine. Since there is no intraindividual correlation between the cortical responses to these sensory modalities they are complementary tools for the study of migraine and may help to identify subgroups of patients with distinct pathophysiological mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: The strong negative correlation between the initial amplitude of evoked potentials and their amplitude increase during subsequent averaging confirms that the response potentiation in migraine is likely to be due to a reduced preactivation level of sensory cortices.
PMID: 10825720 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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9: Brain. 2002 Apr;125(Pt 4):912-22.  Related Articles, Links

Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on visual evoked potentials in migraine.
Bohotin V, Fumal A, Vandenheede M, Gerard P, Bohotin C, Maertens de Noordhout A, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.
Between attacks, migraine patients are characterized by potentiation instead of habituation of stimulation-evoked cortical responses. It is debated whether this is due to increased or decreased cortical excitability. We have studied the changes in visual cortex excitability by recording pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEP) after low- and high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), known respectively for their inhibitory and excitatory effect on the cortex. In 30 patients (20 migraine without, 10 with aura) and 24 healthy volunteers, rTMS of the occipital cortex was performed with a focal figure-of-eight magnetic coil (Magstim). Nine hundred pulses were delivered randomly at 1 or 10 Hz in two separate sessions. Stimulus intensity was set to the phosphene threshold or to 110% of the motor threshold if no phosphenes were elicited. Before and after rTMS, PR-VEP were averaged sequentially in six blocks of 100zztieresponses during uninterrupted 3.1 Hz stimulation. In healthy volunteers, PR-VEP amplitude was significantly decreased in the first block after 1 Hz rTMS and the habituation normally found in successive blocks after sustained stimulation was significantly attenuated. In migraine patients, 10 Hz rTMS was followed by a significant increase of first block PR-VEP amplitude and by a reversal to normal habituation of the potentiation (or dishabituation) characteristic of the disorder. This effect was similar in both forms of migraine and lasted for at least 9 min. There were no significant changes of PR-VEP amplitudes after 1 Hz rTMS in migraineurs and after 10 Hz rTMS in healthy volunteers, nor after sham stimulation. The recovery of a normal PR-VEP habituation pattern after high-frequency rTMS is probably due to activation of the visual cortex and the dishabituation in healthy volunteers to cortical inhibition. We conclude, therefore, that the deficient interictal PR-VEP habituation in migraine is due to a reduced, and not to an increased, pre-activation excitability level of the visual cortex.
PMID: 11912123 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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10: Brain. 2003 Jun 23 [Epub ahead of print].  Related Articles, Links

Lack of habituation causes high intensity dependence of auditory evoked cortical potentials in migraine.
Ambrosini A, Rossi P, De Pasqua V, Pierelli F, Schoenen J.
Headache Clinic, INM Neuromed, Pozzilli (Isernia), Italy.
Migraineurs are characterized interictally by lack of habituation, or even potentiation, of cortical evoked potentials during repetitive stimulation and by a strong intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials (IDAP). To determine whether these two features of sensory processing are interrelated, we have studied them simultaneously on the same recordings of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs). AEPs were obtained at four different stimulation intensities in 14 patients suffering from migraine without aura (MO) and 14 healthy volunteers (HV). For each intensity, 120 trials were averaged off-line globally and over four sequential blocks of 30 trials. IDAP was expressed by the amplitude/stimulus intensity function (ASF slope) for global and block averages. Habituation was calculated as the percentage amplitude variation between the first and fourth blocks for each stimulus intensity. The IDAP slope for global averages was higher in MO (1.05 +/- 0.27 micro V/10 dB) than in HV (0.64 +/- 0.45 micro V/10 dB) (P = 0.008), but IDAP slopes for block averages were greater in MO only at the fourth block (P = 0.048). First block amplitudes tended to be lower in MO, except at 80 dB. There was a potentiation of AEP amplitudes at every stimulus intensity in MO, contrasting with habituation in HV. IDAP slopes were negatively correlated with mean habituation percentages in pooled data from patients and controls (r = -0.610; P = 0.0006). This study confirms that IDAP is higher in migraineurs than in healthy controls. It also shows that the AEP habituation is replaced by potentiation at all stimulus intensities. The negative correlation found between IDAP and habituation suggests that the latter is able to have a strong influence on the former and perhaps even lead to it. In migraine, the habituation deficit amplifies the IDAP and may thus be the causal functional abnormality. We propose that it is due to a decreased pre-activation level of sensory cortices, a hypothesis also supported in this study by the lower amplitude of first AEP blocks in patients.
PMID: 12821515 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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11: Neurosci Lett. 2001 Jun 22;306(1-2):132-4.  Related Articles, Links

Reduced gating of middle-latency auditory evoked potentials (P50) in migraine patients: another indication of abnormal sensory processing?
Ambrosini A, De Pasqua V, Afra J, Sandor PS, Schoenen J.
Headache Clinics - IRCCS Neuromed via Atinense, 18, I-86077 , Pozzilli (Isernia), Italy.
Habituation of cortical evoked responses to repetitive stimuli is reduced in migraine between attacks. To explore another aspect of information processing, we measured auditory sensory gating. The amplitude of the P50 response to the second of two homologous stimuli was significantly less reduced in migraineurs than in healthy volunteers. This lack of auditory sensory gating may be due to a hypofunction of monoaminergic subcortico-cortical pathways, which is also supposed to cause the interictal deficit of cortical habituation to repetitive stimuli.
PMID: 11403975 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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12: Neurology. 1996 May;46(5):1404-9.  Related Articles, Links

Intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials is pronounced in migraine: an indication of cortical potentiation and low serotonergic neurotransmission?
Wang W, Timsit-Berthier M, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, University of Liege, Belgium.
Migraine is associated with stimulus hypersensitivity, increased evoked cortical responses, and abnormal 5-HT levels in peripheral blood. We studied cortical auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) between attacks in 35 patients suffering from migraine without aura (MO, n = 25) or with aura (MA, n = 10) and in 25 healthy volunteers. Binaural tones were delivered at 40, 50, 60, and 70 dB sensation level (SL) in a pseudorandomized order. The intensity dependence of the auditory N1-P2 component was significantly greater in MO (p = 0.003) and MA (p = 0.02) patients than in healthy controls, resulting in a much steeper amplitude/stimulus intensity function slope. When three sequential blocks of 40 averaged responses were analyzed at the 40- and 70-dB SL intensities, N1-P2 amplitude decreased in second and third blocks at both intensities in controls, but increased in migraineurs, a difference that was significant in both blocks for the 70-dB SL stimulus. The strong interictal dependence of AEPs on stimulus intensity may thus be due to potentiation (instead of habituation) of the response during repetition of the high-intensity stimulation. In concordance with previous studies of visual evoked potentials, these results confirm that migraine is characterized between attacks by an abnormality of cortical information processing, which might be a consequence of low 5-HT transmission and favor cortical energy demands.
PMID: 8628490 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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13: Cephalalgia. 2000 Nov;20(9):804-20.  Related Articles, Links

Visual, long-latency auditory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials in migraine: relation to pattern size, stimulus intensity, sound and light discomfort thresholds and pre-attack state.
Sand T, Vingen JV.
Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Trondheim University Hospital, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. trond.sand@medisin.ntnu.no
We aimed to estimate primary sensory evoked potential (EP) amplitude, amplitude-intensity functions and habituation in migraine patients compared with healthy control subjects and to investigate the possible relation to check size, sound and light discomfort thresholds, and the time to the next attack. Amplitudes of cortical visual evoked potentials (VEP, check size 8' and 33'), cortical long latency auditory evoked potential (AEP NIP1; 40, 55 and 70 dB SL tones) and brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP wave IV-V; 40, 55 and 65 dB SL clicks) were recorded and analysed in a blind and balanced design. The difference between the response to the first and the second half of the stimulus sequence was used as a measure of habituation. Twenty-one migraine patients (16 women and five men, mean age 39.3 years, six with aura, 15 without aura) and 22 sex- and age-matched healthy control subjects were studied (18 women and four men, mean age 39.5 years). Low sound discomfort threshold correlated significantly with low levels of BAEP wave IV-V amplitude habituation (r = -0.30, P = 0.05). VEP an AEP amplitudes, habituation, and amplitude-intensity function (ASF) slopes did not differ between groups when ANOVA main factors were considered. Control group VEP habituation was found for small check stimuli (P = 0.04), while potentiation was observed for medium sized checks (P = 0.02). The eight migraine patients who experienced headache within 24 h after the test tended to have increased BAEP wave IV-V ASF slopes (P = 0.08). This subgroup did also have a significant VEP habituation to small checks (P = 0.04). No correlation was found between different modalities. These results suggest that: (i) VEP habituation/potentiation state and brainstem activatio state may depend on the attack-interval cycle in migraine; (ii) VEP habituation/ potentiation may depend on spatial stimulus frequency; (iii) phonophobia (and possibly photophobia) may depend more on subcortical (brainstem) function than on cortical mechanisms; (iv) low cortical preactivation in migraine could not be confirmed; (v) EP habituation and ASF analysis may reflect sensory modality-specific, not generalized, central nervous system states in migraine and healthy control subjects.
PMID: 11167910 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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14: Headache. 2000 Jan;40(1):30-5.  Related Articles, Links

Prophylactic treatment of migraine with beta-blockers and riboflavin: differential effects on the intensity dependence of auditory evoked cortical potentials.
Sandor PS, Afra J, Ambrosini A, Schoenen J.
Neurology Department, CHR Citadelle, University of Liege, Belgium.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of different pharmacological treatments on the intensity dependence of auditory evoked cortical potentials in migraineurs. BACKGROUND: Between attacks, patients with migraine show abnormalities in cortical information processing and decreased brain mitochondrial energy reserve. Both are most probably relevant for migraine pathogenesis, and they could be differentially modified by prophylactic drug therapy. Design.-The intensity dependence of the auditory evoked cortical potentials is, on average, increased in migraine. We have studied this intensity dependence in 26 patients before and after a 4-month period of prophylaxis with beta-blockers (n = 11, all migraine without aura; metoprolol or bisoprolol) or riboflavin (n = 15, migraine without aura: 13, migraine with aura: 2). Recordings were performed at least 3 days before or after an attack. RESULTS: After the treatment with beta-blockers, the intensity dependence of the auditory evoked cortical potentials was significantly decreased (before: 1.66+/-1.02 microV/10 dB; after: 0.79+/-1.06 microV/10 dB, P=.02). The decrease in intensity dependence was correlated significantly with clinical improvement (r = .69, P = .02). There was no change in intensity dependence after riboflavin treatment (before: 1.80+/-0.81 microV/10 dB; after: 1.56+/-0.83 microV/10 dB, P = .39), although the majority of patients showed improvement. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm that beta-blockers and riboflavin act on two distinct pathophysiological mechanisms. Combining both treatments might enhance their efficacy without increasing central nervous system side effects.
PMID: 10759900 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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15: Eur J Neurol. 2002 May;9(3):227-32.  Related Articles, Links

Median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials in migraine.
Ozkul Y, Uckardes A.
Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Harran, Sanliurfa, Turkey. yasarozkul@yahoo.com
In visual evoked potential studies, habituation during stimulus repetition with the same stimulus at a constant intensity has been found to be abnormal in migraineurs between attacks. The purpose of this study was to investigate habituation of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and the effects of migraine on them. Eighty-five subjects were included in the study: 30 healthy volunteers (HVs) and 55 migraineurs [30 with migraine without aura (MO), 25 with migraine with aura (MA)]. During continuous stimulation at 3 Hz, four blocks of 100 responses were sequentially averaged of Erb's point (N9), cervical (N13), and cortical (N20) median nerve SEPs. Mean amplitude changes in the second, third and fourth blocks are expressed as percentages of the first block. There was habituation to N13 and N20 in the second, third and fourth blocks in HVs. In the migraine groups, there was no habituation; on the contrary, potentiation was found. This potentiation was statistically significant only in the second blocks for N13 (MO P=0.007, MA P=0.01 versus HVs). However, in both migraineur groups, the rate of N20 potentiations was statistically significant versus that in HVs for all blocks (all P < 0.05). It is concluded that whilst physiological habituation occurs in HVs for cervical and cortical SEPs, in migraine patients there is an interictal deficit of habituation of this sensory modality.
PMID: 11985630 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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16: Neuroreport. 1999 Apr 26;10(6):1235-8.  Related Articles, Links

Familial influences on cortical evoked potentials in migraine.
Sandor PS, Afra J, Proietti-Cecchini A, Albert A, Schoenen J.
Neurology Department, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Cortical information processing in migraine patients is impaired between attacks, showing deficient habituation of pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (VEP), and strong intensity dependence of auditory cortical evoked potentials (IDAP). This could be a genetic trait as certain genetic patterns are known for evoked potentials in healthy subjects. We investigated VEP habituation and IDAP in 20 pairs of migraineurs made up of parents and their children. Using a Monte-Carlo statistical method, we selectively assessed vertical familial influences. VEP habituation and IDAP were abnormal in both parents and children. However, similarity was far more pronounced between related pairs than between unrelated pairs. Familial influences are highly significant in determinants of cortical information processing in migraineurs, hence supporting the important role of genetic factors.
PMID: 10363931 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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17: Headache. 2000 Jan;40(1):36-40.  Related Articles, Links

Influence of colors on habituation of visual evoked potentials in patients with migraine with aura and in healthy volunteers.
Afra J, Ambrosini A, Genicot R, Albert A, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether colored glasses influence the habituation of visual evoked potentials. BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that during pattern-reversal stimulations lasting 2 minutes the amplitude of the visual evoked potential increases in migraine with and without aura between attacks, whereas it decreases in healthy volunteers. Red light was found to increase visually evoked EEG fast activity only in children with migraine with aura. Wearing rose-tinted glasses for 4 months decreased attack frequency in parallel with a reduction of the visually evoked EEG fast activity. METHODS: We compared the change in amplitude of the visual evoked potential using five different tinted glasses in 12 patients with migraine with aura and in 10 healthy volunteers. During continuous stimulation at 3.1 Hz, five blocks of 50 responses were sequentially averaged using red, yellow, green, blue, and grey glasses and without glasses in a random order and analyzed in terms of latencies and N1-P1 amplitudes. Amplitude changes were calculated for each block by comparison with the first block in every condition and analyzed statistically using Zerbe's method. RESULTS: In healthy volunteers, the visual evoked potential amplitude increased with red glasses compared to without glasses (P = .05) or with green glasses (P = .03). In patients with migraine with aura, no significant difference was detected using colored glasses. Our findings in healthy volunteers are in line with earlier reports of increased excitability of the human visual cortex when exposed to red light. The lack of such a pattern in patients with migraine with aura suggests that the visual cortex is interictally hypoexcitable rather than hyperexcitable, which is consistent with studies of transcranial magnetic stimulation.
PMID: 10759901 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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18: Headache. 2002 Jul-Aug;42(7):582-7.  Related Articles, Links

Effects of fluoxetine on habituation of pattern reversal visually evoked potentials in migraine prophylaxis.
Ozkul Y, Bozlar S.
University of Harran, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Sanliurfa, Turkey.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of fluoxetine in migraine prophylaxis on habituation of visually evoked potentials. BACKGROUND: Habituation of pattern reversal visually evoked potentials was found to be abnormal in migraine between attack, and this abnormality was most likely due to serotonergic pathway dysfunction in the brain stem. METHODS: One hundred nineteen subjects were included in the study: 40 healthy volunteers and 79 migraineurs not taking any prophylactic migraine medication (44 without aura and 35 with aura). Visually evoked potentials in migraineurs were recorded in the headache-free interval. Amplitude change of the visually evoked potentials (N1-P1) was measured between the first and fifth block of 50 sequential averagings during continuous stimulation at 3.1 Hz. All migraineurs were placed on fluoxetine 20 mg/day for prophylaxis of migraine. One month later, visually evoked potentials were recorded again. RESULTS: Mean amplitude changes in the fifth block expressed as percentages of the first block were -13.4% +/- 19.2% in healthy volunteers, 9.8% +/- 23.3% in migraine without aura, and 4.4% +/- 8.7% in migraine with aura during the baseline period. The difference was significant between migraineurs and healthy volunteers (both P= 0.0001), but not between migraineur groups. After treatment, amplitude changes were -9.3% +/- 14.5% in migraine without aura and -10.1% +/- 11.5% in migraine with aura. Habituation pattern tended to normalize with prophylactic treatment, and mean amplitude changes were not significant between migraineurs and healthy volunteers (both P = 0.4). CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the fluoxetine prophylaxis corrects the interictal deficit of habituation in migraineurs.
Publication Types:
* Clinical Trial
* Controlled Clinical Trial
 

PMID: 12482209 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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19: Brain. 1998 Feb;121 ( Pt 2):233-41.  Related Articles, Links

Visual evoked potentials during long periods of pattern-reversal stimulation in migraine.
Afra J, Cecchini AP, De Pasqua V, Albert A, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, University of Liege, Belgium.
We have previously shown that during repetitive pattern-reversal stimulation, lasting 2 min, the amplitude of the visual evoked potential (PR-VEP) increases in migraineurs when tested interictally whereas it decreases in healthy control subjects. According to Sappey-Marinier et al. (J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1992; 12: 584-92) habituation of the PR-VEP in normal subjects is maxima after 12 min, at a time when there is a decrease of stimulation-enhanced lactate levels in the occipital cortex. We have therefore compared PR-VEP during long periods of repetitive stimulation in healthy control subjects (n = 25) and in patients suffering from migraine without (n = 25) and with aura (n = 15) between attacks. During uninterrupted stimulation at 3.1 Hz VEPs were sequentially averaged in blocks of 100 responses for a total duration of 15 min and analysed in terms of latencies and peak-to-peak amplitudes of N1-P1 and P1-N2 peaks. Amplitude changes from the baseline were calculated for each block, by comparison with the first block, and analysed statistically using Zerbe's method. The N1-P1 and P1-N2 amplitudes in the first block tended to be lower in migraineurs than in healthy control subjects. During the 15 min of stimulation, amplitudes of both components progressively decreased in control subjects, but remained stable in both groups of patients. The difference between patients and control subjects proved to be significant (P < 0.05). The neurophysiological data were not correlated with clinical features such as attack frequency or duration of illness. These results are yet another demonstration in migraine of an interictal habituation deficit in cortical information processing, which might favour lactate accumulation in sensory cortices during sustained activation.
PMID: 9549502 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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20: Cephalalgia. 2002 Feb;22(1):48-53.  Related Articles, Links

A neural network model of sensitization of evoked cortical responses in migraine.
Thomas E, Sandor PS, Ambrosini A, Schoenen J.
Research Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Liege, Belgium. ethomas@ulg.ac.be
Migraine patients show abnormalities of cerebral electrophysiology that manifest themselves mainly during the attack interval. Cortical-evoked potentials of migraineurs fail to habituate to repetitive presentations of visual stimuli, and the amplitude of components of their auditory cortical-evoked potentials have a higher dependence on the stimulus intensities than in healthy subjects. A computer model of a neural hetwork has been developed that is able to reproduce both these neurophysiological dysfunctions. It predicts a positive correlation between the magnitudes of both these dysfunctions. The model also offers an explanation of why mutations in the same ion channel gene with opposite consequences on channel function, e.g. P/Q Ca2+ channels in migraine, may lead to similar electrophysiological abnormalities.
PMID: 11993613 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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21: Funct Neurol. 2000;15 Suppl 3:68-72.  Related Articles, Links

From neurophysiology to genetics: cortical information processing in migraine underlies familial influences--a novel approach.
Sandor PS, Afra J, Proietti Cecchini AP, Albert A, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, CHR Citadelle, University of Liege, Belgium.
Migraine patients show impaired cortical information processing between attacks with deficient habituation of pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (VEP), and strong intensity dependence of auditory cortical evoked potentials (IDAP). This could be a genetic trait as certain genetic patterns are known for evoked potentials in healthy subjects. VEP-habituation and IDAP were studied in 40 migraine patients, i.e. pairs of 20 parents and their children. We developed a novel approach based on Monte Carlo statistics to selectively assess vertical familial influences. Both groups, parents and children, were characterized by abnormal VEP-habituation and IDAP. However, similarity between related pairs was far more pronounced than similarity between unrelated pairs. Assessed with a novel statistical approach, familial influences proved to be highly significant in determining cortical information processing in migraineurs, thus supporting the important role of genetic factors.
Publication Types:
* Clinical Trial
* Randomized Controlled Trial
 

PMID: 11200803 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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22: Cephalalgia. 1998 Jun;18(5):261-5; discussion 241.  Related Articles, Links

Interictal potentiation of passive "oddball" auditory event-related potentials in migraine.
Wang W, Schoenen J.
Department of Neurology, University of Liege, Belgium.
We have studied habituation of the P3a component of the passive "oddball" auditory event-related potential which reflects automatic processing of a "novel" stimulus in 24 patients suffering from migraine without aura and in 21 healthy volunteers. Three blocks of responses to 160 standard and to 40 novel tones were sequentially averaged at Cz and analyzed for latencies and peak-to-peak amplitudes. Latencies of components N1 and P2 elicited by standard tones and of components N1, P2, N2, and P3a elicited by novel tones were not significantly different between sequential blocks or between subject groups, nor were mean N1-P2 amplitudes. The N2-P3a amplitude tended to be lower in migraine, but not significantly so. The most striking result in migraineurs was a significant potentiation of N2-P3a in successive blocks, contrasting with an habituation in controls. Our previous evoked- and event-related potential studies and the present one suggest that deficient habituation, or even potentiation, represents interictally a fundamental dysfunction of cortical information processing in migraine, which might increase energy demands and play a role in etiopathogenesis.
PMID: 9673805 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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23: Rev Neurol (Paris). 2001 Apr;157(4):365-75.  Related Articles, Links

[Clinical and pathophysiological contribution of event-related potentials used to study migraine headache]
[Article in French]
Legrain V, Janne P, Laloux P, Ossemann M, Dupuis M, Reynaert C.
Departement de psychologie clinique, Faculte de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve. legrain@clap.ucl.ac.be
Event-related potentials are electric brain manifestations evoked by mental activities. This neurophysiological technique is able to describe temporal succession of cognitive processing and allows to measure the neurobiological correlates of each cognitive activity. The evoked potentials of the oddball paradigm and the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) are also concerned by clinical applications in neuropsychiatry, in neurology and in psychopharmacology. In the case of migraine, the studies with CNV recorded between migraine attacks are characterized by two major phenomena, cerebral hyperreactivity and lack of habituation to repetitive stimuli. From cognitive point of view, this can be interpreted as a difficulty from migraine sufferers to adapt their information-processing to environmental constraints. From neurological point of view, this trouble is related with dysregulation of norepinephrin and serotonin ascending pathways. Studies with the oddball paradigm potentials remain non consistent. The mismatch between different methodologies could explain such a lack of consistency. The neurophysiological studies have contributed to new physiopathological hypothesis of migraine. Those hypothesis reveal that a shift in the brain metabolic homeostasis could be the common factor of migraine attacks. The clinical contribution of event-related potentials is of little use in the diagnosis of migraine. But two purposes have been suggested: the differential diagnosis between common migraine and tension-type headaches and the monitoring of beta-blocking agents prophylaxis.
Publication Types:
* Review
* Review, Academic
 

PMID: 11398007 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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24: Cephalalgia. 2000 Sep;20(7):621-31.  Related Articles, Links

Olfactory and trigeminal event-related potentials in migraine.
Grosser K, Oelkers R, Hummel T, Geisslinger G, Brune K, Kobal G, Lotsch J.
Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Erlangen Nurnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
BACKGROUND: Trigeminal/neuronal hyperexcitability and spreading depression activating the trigemino-vascular system are discussed in migraine-pathophysiology. This study investigated trigeminal and olfactory event-related potentials in migraineurs. METHODS: Nasal chemosensitivity was assessed in 19 female migraineurs with or without aura > 72 h before or after an attack and in 19 healthy females employing event-related cortical potentials (ERPs) after specific trigeminal stimulation of nasal nociceptors with short pulses of CO2, and specific olfactory stimulation with H2S. Odour thresholds and odour identification performance were also tested. RESULTS: Migraineurs exhibited greater responses to trigeminal stimulation, indicated by significantly larger ERP amplitudes N1. In contrast, olfactory ERP amplitudes P1N1 were significantly smaller in migraineurs. A leave-one-out classification procedure on the basis of these two parameters assigned 76.3% cases correctly. The olfactory ERP amplitude discriminated better between groups than trigeminal ERPs (71.1 vs. 68.4% correct classification). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest trigeminal hyperexcitability in migraineurs. A general increase of nasal chemosensitivity is not supported because of smaller olfactory ERP amplitudes in migraineurs. Olfactory ERPs discriminate better than trigeminal ERPs between migraineurs and controls, emphasizing the significance of the olfactory system in migraine.
PMID: 11128819 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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25: Brain. 1999 Jun;122 ( Pt 6):1147-55.  Related Articles, Links

Visual evoked potentials in migraine patients: alterations depend on pattern spatial frequency.
Oelkers R, Grosser K, Lang E, Geisslinger G, Kobal G, Brune K, Lotsch J.
Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany. rieke_oelkers@med.uni