Habituation of the Nociceptive Blink Reflex in Experimentally Induced Migraine Attack

Summary

People with migraine typically show impaired responsivity to visual, auditory and pain stimuli (Burstein et al, 2015). The electrophysiological study of the nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) is widely adopted for the instrumental evaluation of trigeminal afferent function. Migraine sufferers characteristically show deficits in the habituation to repeated stimulations of various sensory modalities, in the interictal phase of the disease (Bohotin et al, 2002; Di Clemente et al, 2005). It has been described how the habituation / sensitization pattern presents a characteristic pattern over the course of the migraine cycle. Past evidence suggests that the habituation deficit may turn towards a normalization of the pattern near the acute migraine attack (Coppola et al, 2013; Katsarava et al, 2003). However, the study of the spontaneous attack shows various limits and difficulties, mainly due to the impossibility of predicting the onset of the next attack and of standardizing the experimental conditions. The use of human models of migraine allows us to overcome these obstacles. Di Clemente et al. (2009) evaluated the electrophysiological changes in nBR after administration of nitroglycerin (NTG) in healthy subjects. The authors described a modification of trigeminal circuits and cortical responses (visual evoked potentials) after NTG. However, NTG administration does not induce migraine attack in healthy subjects, therefore this model cannot be directly translated to migraine pathology (Ashina et al. 2017). Our group has previously used the human model of migraine based on the administration of NTG to study central and spinal level sensitization through the nociceptive avoidance reflex in the lower limb (RIII) (De Icco et al. 2020). The results of the previous study deepened our understanding of the central mechanisms of sensitization. The investigation of the nBR allows to study the modulation of the caudal trigeminal complex (TCC). In the present study we therefore intend to evaluate, under well-controlled experimental conditions, the modulation of the trigeminal caudal complex during an experimentally induced migraine attack. The study will allow us to confirm or not the normalization of habituation described in the acute phase through the adoption of a solid cross-over and placebo-controlled study design.

Timeline

Start

2022-11-01

Primary completion

2024-12

Completion

2024-12

Publications

• Background Burstein R, Noseda R, Borsook D. Migraine: multiple processes, complex pathophysiology. J Neurosci. 2015 Apr 29;35(17):6619-29. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0373-15.2015.
• Background Bohotin V, Fumal A, Vandenheede M, Gerard P, Bohotin C, Maertens de Noordhout A, Schoenen J. Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on visual evoked potentials in migraine. Brain. 2002 Apr;125(Pt 4):912-22. doi: 10.1093/brain/awf081.
• Background Di Clemente L, Coppola G, Magis D, Fumal A, De Pasqua V, Schoenen J. Nociceptive blink reflex and visual evoked potential habituations are correlated in migraine. Headache. 2005 Nov-Dec;45(10):1388-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2005.00271.x.
• Background Coppola G, Di Lorenzo C, Schoenen J, Pierelli F. Habituation and sensitization in primary headaches. J Headache Pain. 2013 Jul 30;14(1):65. doi: 10.1186/1129-2377-14-65.
• Background Di Clemente L, Coppola G, Magis D, Gerardy PY, Fumal A, De Pasqua V, Di Piero V, Schoenen J. Nitroglycerin sensitises in healthy subjects CNS structures involved in migraine pathophysiology: evidence from a study of nociceptive blink reflexes and visual evoked potentials. Pain. 2009 Jul;144(1-2):156-61. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2009.04.018. Epub 2009 May 19.
• Background Ashina M, Hansen JM, A Dunga BO, Olesen J. Human models of migraine - short-term pain for long-term gain. Nat Rev Neurol. 2017 Dec;13(12):713-724. doi: 10.1038/nrneurol.2017.137. Epub 2017 Oct 6.
• Background De Icco R, Perrotta A, Grillo V, Cosentino G, Sances G, Sandrini G, Tassorelli C. Experimentally induced spinal nociceptive sensitization increases with migraine frequency: a single-blind controlled study. Pain. 2020 Feb;161(2):429-438. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001726.
• Background Sances G, Tassorelli C, Pucci E, Ghiotto N, Sandrini G, Nappi G. Reliability of the nitroglycerin provocative test in the diagnosis of neurovascular headaches. Cephalalgia. 2004 Feb;24(2):110-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2982.2004.00639.x.
• Background De Icco R, Greco R, Demartini C, Vergobbi P, Zanaboni A, Tumelero E, Reggiani A, Realini N, Sances G, Grillo V, Allena M, Tassorelli C. Spinal nociceptive sensitization and plasma palmitoylethanolamide levels during experimentally induced migraine attacks. Pain. 2021 Sep 1;162(9):2376-2385. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002223.
• Background Karsan N, Perez-Rodriguez A, Nagaraj K, Bose PR, Goadsby PJ. The migraine postdrome: Spontaneous and triggered phenotypes. Cephalalgia. 2021 May;41(6):721-730. doi: 10.1177/0333102420975401. Epub 2021 Jan 10.
• Background Demartini C, Greco R, Zanaboni AM, Sances G, De Icco R, Borsook D, Tassorelli C. Nitroglycerin as a comparative experimental model of migraine pain: From animal to human and back. Prog Neurobiol. 2019 Jun;177:15-32. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2019.02.002. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

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