Hyperexcitability of the Motion-Sensitive Area MST in Migraineurs with Aura

Peter Dechent¹, Katharina Saller^1,2, Carmen Morawetz¹, Jrgen Baudewig¹, Walter Paulus², Andrea Antal²

Differences in visual perception measures between people with/without migraine have been attributed to abnormal cortical processing. Here, we explored the dynamics of the basic interictal state regarding extrastriate, motion-responsive middle-temporal (MT) and medial-superior-temporal area (MST) using fMRI (3Tesla) with different moving dot stimuli on 18 migraine patients (with/without aura (MwA/MwoA)) and 9 controls. Compared with controls and MwoA patients, MwA patients showed higher signal changes in bilateral MST, but not in MT. This implies an enhanced responsiveness of MST of MwA patients and strengthens the hypothesis that hyperexcitability of the visual cortex in these patients goes beyond primary visual areas.