51 ± 0.37 second vs 0.27 ± 0.30 second). In controls, the slope of the left PCA flow velocity after stimulus-offset showed a stronger decline compared with the patient group (−4.36 ± 1.66 second vs −3.31 ± 1.28 second). In this study, we used two different techniques – fMRI and fTCD – to assess cerebral hemodynamics in migraine patients during stimulation with a rotating optokinetic drum with complex colored figures and thereby activating striate and extrastriate visual areas involved in motion, pattern, and color perception. While previous fMRI and TMS studies have suggested an
increased cortical reactivity and hyperexcitability in primary visual areas,26-28 more recently the extrastriate visual areas have been identified as a region AUY-922 concentration Dabrafenib of differential activation in migraine. Battelli and co-workers were the first to demonstrate a significant difference in the threshold for excitability of bilateral visual areas V5 in persons with migraine using TMS.[4] A robust activation of the area V5 (also known as MT+, hMT+, middle temporal area/middle superior temporal area [MT/MST], or MT/V5+), the human homolog to the medial temporal region in the macaque brain, has been shown by a number of motion stimuli in fMRI studies.14,29-31 Additional studies have highlighted the functional disturbances during visual perception of
motion, patterns, and colors in patients suffering migraine,[11, 12, 32] as well as a higher susceptibility to visually induced discomfort
or motion sickness.[22, 33, 34] In 2010, Antal et al were the first to describe an increased bilateral activation in the superior-anterior part of the middle-temporal cortex (corresponding to MST) to visual stimulation in migraineurs using a coherent/incoherent moving dot stimulus.[15] Strengthening their findings of extrastriate involvement in migraine, we could not only show significantly increased activation in MA in the motion sensitive cortical areas V5 bilaterally, but medchemexpress also in the left area V3. The area V3 has also been identified as a region related to processing visual motion, possibly as a part of a hypothesized cortical network activity induced by visual motion.[30, 35, 36] However, there is controversy about the exact location and subfields of the V3 complex in humans. Recently, fMRI was used to study the detection of coherent motion vs noise as a measure of global visual motion processing. The authors report greater activation by coherent motion in V5 and putative V3A, but not in V1.[37] Similarly, in another study, the brain activations in areas V2 and V3 to vertical pattern stimuli were significantly higher than to the horizontal pattern stimuli.[38] The greater sensitivity to vertical stimuli has been hypothesized to regulate the preponderance of horizontal visual information.