Brain structural and functional changes during menstrual migraine: Relationships with pain

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Radiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Menstrual migraine (MM) significantly impacts women's quality of life.
• The underlying pathophysiology of MM remains incompletely understood.
• Investigating brain structural and functional changes is crucial for understanding MM.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore gray matter volume (GMV) and functional connectivity (FC) alterations in MM patients.
• To determine if resting-state FC (rsFC) changes occur in brain regions with structural abnormalities.
• To assess the relationship between these brain changes and pain/concomitant symptoms in MM.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed on 75 MM patients and 54 controls.
• Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyzed GMV differences.
• Seed-based rsFC analysis focused on identified brain regions, with correlation to clinical data.

Main Results:

• MM patients showed decreased right anterior cingulum cortex (ACC) GMV and increased right superior parietal cortex GMV.
• Reduced right ACC GMV correlated with pain intensity.
• Increased rsFC was observed between the ACC and temporal/parietal regions, linked to headache frequency and depression.

Conclusions:

• The ACC is a potential biomarker for MM, with structural and functional impairments linked to pain and emotional symptoms.
• These findings offer insights into the physiological mechanisms of MM.
• Abnormalities in the ACC may underlie the pain and associated emotional burden in menstrual migraine.