• J Headache Pain · Dec 2017

    Excitability of the motor cortex in patients with migraine changes with the time elapsed from the last attack.

    • Francesca Cortese, Gianluca Coppola, Davide Di Lenola, Mariano Serrao, Cherubino Di Lorenzo, Vincenzo Parisi, and Francesco Pierelli.
    • Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, 'Sapienza' University of Rome Polo Pontino, Corso della Repubblica 79, 04100, Latina, Italy. francesca.cortese05@libero.it.
    • J Headache Pain. 2017 Dec 1; 18 (1): 2.

    BackgroundMotor-evoked potentials (MEPs) produced by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex can be an objective measure of cortical excitability. Previously, MEP thresholds were found to be normal, increased, or even reduced in patients with migraine. In the present study, we determined whether the level of cortical excitability changes with the time interval from the last migraine attack, thereby accounting for the inconsistencies in previous reports.MethodsTwenty-six patients with untreated migraine without aura (MO) underwent a MEP study between attacks. Their data were then compared to the MEP data collected from a group of 24 healthy volunteers (HVs). During the experiment, the TMS figure-of-eight coil was positioned over the left motor area. After identifying the resting motor threshold (RMT), we delivered 10 single TMS pulses (rate: 0.1 Hz, intensity: 120% of the RMT) and averaged the resulting MEP amplitudes.ResultsThe mean RMTs and MEP amplitudes were not significantly different between the MO and HV groups. In patients with MO, the RMTs were negatively correlated with the number of days elapsed since the last migraine attack (rho = -0.404, p = 0.04).ConclusionOur results suggest that the threshold for evoking MEPs is influenced by the proximity of an attack; specifically, the threshold is lower when a long time interval has passed after an attack, and is higher (within the range of normative values) when measured close to an attack. These dynamic RMT variations resemble those we reported previously for visual and somatosensory evoked potentials and may represent time-dependent plastic changes in brain excitability in relation to the migraine cycle.

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