The exciting migraine brain: towards neurophysiological prediction of migraine attacks

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to identify functional biomarkers for migraine attack prediction based on neurophysiological readout parameters. The main focus of this work was on the development of methodologies to measure brain excitability over the migraine cycle, with special emphasis on identifying changes in excitability of the visual system and the occipital cortex. Applying such measures over the course of a migraine cycle could help elucidate factors that initiate the migraine attack, and might lead to better (or better timing of) preventive measures. The research described in this thesis is divided into two parts. The first part reports on the development and application of several methodologies to measure excitability of the visual system including the cortex in migraine patients and a migraine mouse model. The second part consists of two studies employing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in combination with concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) recordings to provide direct measures of cortical excitability in migraine and epilepsy.