Bimodal sensory integration in migraine: A study of the effect of visual stimulation on somatosensory evoked cortical responses

Abstract

Background Merging of sensory information is a crucial process for adapting the behaviour to the environment in all species. It is not known if this multisensory integration might be dysfunctioning interictally in migraine without aura, where sensory stimuli of various modalities are processed abnormally when delivered separately. To investigate this question, we compared the effects of a concomitant visual stimulation on conventional low-frequency somatosensory evoked potentials and embedded high-frequency oscillations between migraine patients and healthy volunteers. Methods We recorded somatosensory evoked potentials in 19 healthy volunteers and in 19 interictal migraine without aura patients before, during, and 5 min after (T2) simultaneous synchronous pattern-reversal visual stimulation. At each time point, we measured amplitude and habituation of the N20-P25 low-frequency-somatosensory evoked potentials component and maximal peak-to-peak amplitude of early and late bursts of high-frequency oscillations. Results In healthy volunteers, the bimodal stimulation significantly reduced low-frequency-somatosensory evoked potentials habituation and tended to reduce early high-frequency oscillations that reflect thalamocortical activity. By contrast, in migraine without aura patients, bimodal stimulation significantly increased low-frequency-somatosensory evoked potentials habituation and early high-frequency oscillations. At T2, all visual stimulation-induced changes of somatosensory processing had vanished. Conclusion These results suggest a malfunctioning multisensory integration process, which could be favoured by an abnormal excitability level of thalamo-cortical loops.

The effects of estradiol levels on crossmodal perception: a study on the sound induced flash illusion in healthy and menstrually related migraine individuals

“…The fission phenomena of the SIFI depend on visual cortex excitability, along with other association cortices [38][39][40][41][42]. The present finding of reduced proneness to SIFI provides further support on the hypothesis that migraine could be seen as a disorder of multisensorial integration [43,44] that follows a pathological condition of hyperexcitability of the primary visual cortex [45]. This is in line with previous studies using neurophysiological and neurostimulation techniques.…”

Abnormal Thalamo–Cortical Interactions in Overlapping Communities of Migraine: An Edge Functional Connectivity Study

“…27 Furthermore, increased low-frequency somatosensory evoked potentials habituation and early high-frequency oscillations in migraine patients have been recorded after bimodal stimulation, indicating the abnormal excitability level of thalamo-somatosensory loops, which may relate to the malfunction in multisensory integration. 37 These findings supported our implications that the impaired thalamo-cortical synchronization may be a major contributor to multimodal sensory symptoms in migraine patients. The present results verified and expanded on thalamo-cortical dysrhythmia in migraine patients found by prior studies.…”

“…Migraine patients have been demonstrated to show habituation deficit of the late gamma band range, reflecting a functional disconnection of the thalamus to the cortical regions that led to decreased intracortical lateral inhibition 27 . Furthermore, increased low‐frequency somatosensory evoked potentials habituation and early high‐frequency oscillations in migraine patients have been recorded after bimodal stimulation, indicating the abnormal excitability level of thalamo–somatosensory loops, which may relate to the malfunction in multisensory integration 37 . These findings supported our implications that the impaired thalamo–cortical synchronization may be a major contributor to multimodal sensory symptoms in migraine patients.…”

Electrophysiological findings in migraine may reflect abnormal synaptic plasticity mechanisms: A narrative review

“…The authors found that the degree of brainstem and parietal excitation was maximal, while the degree of inhibition was minimal, 24 hours before the onset of the headache. Of note, a recent study investigating the effects of concomitant visual and somatosensory stimulation in migraineurs between attacks suggests that the abnormal processing in sensory information is not limited to single modalities, but actually involves multisensory integration (174).…”