Abnormal structural connectivity-functional connectivity coupling beyond the cortex in patients with chronic...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Chronic migraine is associated with brain network abnormalities.
• Mechanisms of structural-to-functional connectivity (SC-FC) coupling in migraine are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate SC-FC coupling differences between chronic migraine, episodic migraine, and healthy controls.
• To explore the relationship between SC-FC coupling and clinical variables in chronic migraine.

Main Methods:

• Multimodal functional MRI data from 36 chronic migraine, 94 episodic migraine, and 51 healthy controls.
• Spearman's correlation for SC-FC coupling; Kruskal-Wallis test for group comparisons.
• Correlation analysis with clinical variables.

Main Results:

• Episodic migraine showed abnormal SC-FC coupling in the right rolandic operculum, left lingual gyrus, left pallidum, and vermis 7 compared to controls.
• Chronic migraine exhibited abnormal SC-FC coupling in the left cerebellum 3, vermis 7, and pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus.
• Chronic migraine patients had altered SC-FC coupling in the left pulvinar nucleus compared to episodic migraine patients; cerebellar SC-FC coupling correlated with disability.

Conclusions:

• SC-FC coupling alterations are identified in chronic migraine.
• Abnormalities in subcortical nuclei and cerebellum SC-FC coupling may be key mechanisms in chronic migraine.