Anatomical alterations of the visual motion processing network in migraine with and without aura
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026
3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
Cristina Granziera1, Alexandre F M DaSilva, Josh Snyder
1Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Background:
Patients suffering from migraine with aura (MWA) and migraine without aura (MWoA) show abnormalities in visual motion perception during and between attacks. Whether this represents the consequences of structural changes in motion-processing networks in migraineurs is unknown. Moreover, the diagnosis of migraine relies on patient's history, and finding differences in the brain of migraineurs might help to contribute to basic research aimed at better understanding the pathophysiology of migraine.
Methods And Findings:
To investigate a common potential anatomical basis for these disturbances, we used high-resolution cortical thickness measurement and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine the motion-processing network in 24 migraine patients (12 with MWA and 12 MWoA) and 15 age-matched healthy controls (HCs). We found increased cortical thickness of motion-processing visual areas MT+ and V3A in migraineurs compared to HCs. Cortical thickness increases were accompanied by abnormalities of the subjacent white matter. In addition, DTI revealed that migraineurs have alterations in superior colliculus and the lateral geniculate nucleus, which are also involved in visual processing.
Conclusions:
A structural abnormality in the network of motion-processing areas could account for, or be the result of, the cortical hyperexcitability observed in migraineurs. The finding in patients with both MWA and MWoA of thickness abnormalities in area V3A, previously described as a source in spreading changes involved in visual aura, raises the question as to whether a "silent" cortical spreading depression develops as well in MWoA. In addition, these experimental data may provide clinicians and researchers with a noninvasively acquirable migraine biomarker.
Insights
Migraine patients show structural brain changes in visual processing areas. These abnormalities in motion perception networks may help understand migraine causes and potentially serve as a diagnostic biomarker.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- Migraine with aura (MWA) and migraine without aura (MWoA) patients exhibit visual motion perception deficits.
- The underlying structural basis for these visual disturbances in migraineurs remains unclear.
- Current migraine diagnosis relies on patient history, highlighting the need for objective biomarkers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate structural differences in the visual motion-processing network between migraineurs and healthy controls.
- To explore potential common anatomical underpinnings for visual abnormalities in MWA and MWoA.
- To assess if neuroimaging can identify migraine biomarkers.
Main Methods:
- Employed high-resolution cortical thickness measurement and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
- Examined the motion-processing network in 24 migraine patients (12 MWA, 12 MWoA) and 15 healthy controls (HCs).
Main Results:
- Migraineurs displayed increased cortical thickness in visual areas MT+ and V3A compared to HCs.
- Cortical thickness increases correlated with subjacent white matter abnormalities.
- DTI revealed alterations in the superior colliculus and lateral geniculate nucleus in migraineurs.
Conclusions:
- Structural abnormalities in motion-processing networks may explain or result from cortical hyperexcitability in migraine.
- Thickness abnormalities in area V3A in both MWA and MWoA suggest potential "silent" cortical spreading depression in MWoA.
- These findings offer potential noninvasively acquirable biomarkers for migraine diagnosis and research.
