Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Oct 2;18(1):100.
doi: 10.1186/s10194-017-0810-6.

Habituation of laser-evoked potentials by migraine phase: a blinded longitudinal study

Martin Uglem  1   2 , Petter Moe Omland  3   4 , Marit Stjern  3   4 , Gøril Bruvik Gravdahl  5 , Trond Sand  3   4
Affiliations

Habituation of laser-evoked potentials by migraine phase: a blinded longitudinal study

Martin Uglem et al. J Headache Pain. .

Abstract

Background: Migraineurs seem to have cyclic variations in cortical excitability in several neurophysiological modalities. Laser-evoked potentials (LEP) are of particular interest in migraine because LEP specifically targets pain pathways, and studies have reported different LEP-changes both between and during headaches. Our primary aim was to explore potential cyclic variations in LEP amplitude and habituation in more detail with a blinded longitudinal study design.

Methods: We compared N1 and N2P2 amplitudes and habituation between two blocks of laser stimulations to the dorsal hand, obtained from 49 migraineurs with four sessions each. We used migraine diaries to categorize sessions as interictal (> one day from previous and to next attack), preictal (< one day before the attack), ictal or postictal (< one day after the attack). Also, we compared 29 interictal recordings from the first session to 30 controls.

Results: N1 and N2P2 amplitudes and habituation did not differ between preictal, interictal and postictal phase sessions, except for a post hoc contrast that showed deficient ictal habituation of N1. Habituation is present and similar in migraineurs in the interictal phase and controls.

Conclusions: Hand-evoked LEP amplitudes and habituation were mainly invariable between migraine phases, but this matter needs further study. Because hand-evoked LEP-habituation was similar in migraineurs and controls, the present findings contradict several previous LEP studies. Pain-evoked cerebral responses are normal and show normal habituation in migraine.

Keywords: Habituation; Headache; Ictal; LEP; Laser evoked potential; Migraine cycle; Pain; Pathophysiology; Preictal; Premonitory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics approved the protocol, and all subjects gave their written informed consent. Migraineurs and controls received an equivalent of $ 125 and $ 30 respectively to cover expenses.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Grand average of the LEP-traces by phase. Habituation was present in all phases at both LEP-components but ictal and postictal N1, and postictal N2P2. The amplitudes in the figures are smaller than those presented in Table 2 due to slightly different LEP-latencies between participants
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Grand average of the LEP-traces in first session interictal recordings and controls. N2P2-habituation was present in both groups, but we found no significant N1-habituation. The amplitudes in the figures are smaller than those presented in Table 4 due to slightly different LEP-latencies between participants
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Estimates of N1 (left) and N2P2-amplitude (right) habituation by phase
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Estimates of N1 (left) and N2P2-amplitude (right) habituation in interictal recordings and controls
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Maniyar FH, Sprenger T, Monteith T, Schankin CJ, Goadsby PJ. The premonitory phase of migraine--what can we learn from it? Headache. 2015;55:609–620. doi: 10.1111/head.12572. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bose P, Goadsby PJ. The migraine postdrome. Curr Opin Neurol. 2016;29:299–301. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0000000000000310. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schulte LH, May A. The migraine generator revisited: continuous scanning of the migraine cycle over 30 days and three spontaneous attacks. Brain. 2016;139:1987–1993. doi: 10.1093/brain/aww097. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sand T, Zhitniy N, White LR, Stovner LJ. Brainstem auditory-evoked potential habituation and intensity-dependence related to serotonin metabolism in migraine: a longitudinal study. Clin Neurophysiol. 2008;119:1190–1200. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2008.01.007. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sand T, Zhitniy N, White LR, Stovner LJ. Visual evoked potential latency, amplitude and habituation in migraine: a longitudinal study. Clin Neurophysiol. 2008;119:1020–1027. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2008.01.009. - DOI - PubMed