Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026
3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
Increased myo-inositol level in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in migraine patients with major depression
Jiing-Feng Lirng1, Hung-Chieh Chen2, Jong-Ling Fuh3
1Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan Department of Radiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan.
Background:
Although the comorbidity between migraine and major depressive disorder (MDD) has been recognized, the pathophysiology remains unclear. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a well-known neural substrate for MDD. We investigated the relationship between brain metabolites in DLPFC and comorbid MDD in migraine patients.
Methods:
We recruited migraine patients from a tertiary headache clinic. A board-certified psychiatrist conducted a structured interview for MDD diagnosis. The severity of depression was evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Thirty migraine patients (five men, 25 women; mean age: 40.4 ± 12.4 years) completed the study, and 16 of them were diagnosed with MDD. All patients underwent a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) examination focusing on bilateral DLPFC. The ratios of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and myo-inositol (mI) to total creatine (tCr) were compared between migraine patients with and without MDD, and were correlated with BDI scores.
Results:
Relative to patients without MDD, migraine patients with MDD had higher mI/tCr ratios in the bilateral DLPFC (p = 0.02, left; p = 0.02, right, Mann-Whitney U test). The mI/tCr ratios in the right DLPFC were positively correlated with BDI scores (r = 0.52, p = 0.003). The NAA/tCr and Cho/tCr ratios did not differ between migraine patients with and without MDD.
Conclusion:
Increased mI/tCr within the DLPFC might be associated with the presence of MDD in migraine patients.
