Data from: Gray matter volume modifications in migraine: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Objective. To explore cross-sectional and longitudinal gray matter (GM) volume changes in migraine patients and their association with patients’ clinical characteristics and disease activity.
Methods. Brain T2-weighted and 3D T1-weighted scans were acquired from 73 episodic migraineurs and 46 age- and sex-matched non-migraine controls at baseline. Twenty-four migraineurs and 25 controls agreed to be re-examined after a mean follow-up of 4 years. Using a general linear model and SPM12, a whole-brain analysis was performed to assess GM volume modifications.
Results. At baseline, compared to controls, migraine patients showed lower cerebellar GM volume and higher volume of regions of the fronto-temporal lobes. At follow-up, migraineurs were significantly older than controls. Over the follow-up, migraineurs developed an increased volume of fronto-temporo-parietal regions, which was more prominent in patients with a higher baseline disease activity: long disease duration and high attack frequency. Migraineurs also developed decreased GM volume of visual areas, which was related to higher pain severity. Patients with an increased attack frequency at follow-up experienced both increased and decreased volume of nociceptive regions. In migraineurs, reduced GM volume of extrastriate visual areas during the follow-up was significantly correlated to baseline disease activity: shorter disease duration and lower attack frequency.
Conclusion. In this cohort, the migraine brain changes dynamically over time and different pathophysiological mechanisms can occur in response to patients’ disease severity. The interaction between predisposing brain traits and experience-dependent responses might vary across different nociceptive and visual areas, thus leading to distinct patterns of longitudinal GM volume changes.

研究目的：探讨偏头痛患者灰质（gray matter, GM）体积的横断面与纵向变化特征，及其与患者临床特征及疾病活动度的关联。
研究方法：于基线阶段纳入73名发作性偏头痛患者与46名年龄、性别匹配的非偏头痛对照者，采集其脑部T2加权及3D T1加权扫描影像。其中24名偏头痛患者及25名对照者在平均随访4年后同意接受复查。采用广义线性模型与统计参数映射12（SPM12）开展全脑分析，以评估灰质体积的改变情况。
研究结果：基线时，相较于对照者，偏头痛患者的小脑灰质体积更低，而额颞叶脑区体积更高。随访阶段，偏头痛患者的平均年龄显著高于对照者。随访期间，偏头痛患者的额颞顶叶脑区体积出现显著增加，且该变化在基线疾病活动度更高（病程更长、发作频率更高）的患者中更为突出。此外，偏头痛患者的视觉皮层脑区灰质体积出现降低，该变化与更高的疼痛严重程度显著相关。随访期间发作频率升高的偏头痛患者，其痛觉相关脑区的体积同时出现升高与降低的改变。在偏头痛患者中，随访期间纹外视觉皮层区域的灰质体积减少，与基线疾病活动度（病程更短、发作频率更低）显著相关。
研究结论：本队列研究显示，偏头痛患者的脑部改变随时间呈动态变化过程，且不同病理生理机制可随患者疾病严重程度的差异而发生改变。易感脑区特征与经验依赖性应答之间的相互作用，在不同痛觉及视觉脑区中存在异质性，进而导致纵向灰质体积变化呈现不同的模式。