Abstract #1427

Altered baseline cerebral blood flow and neurotransmitter levels in episodic and chronic migraine

Lars Michels¹, Franz Riederer^2,3, Jeanette Villanueva¹, Andreas Gantenbein⁴, Peter Sandor⁴, Roger Luechinger⁵, Martin Wilson⁶, and Spyros Kollias¹

¹University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, ²Neurological Center Rosenhuegel and Karl Landsteiner Institute for Epilepsy Research and Cognitive Neurology, Vienna, Austria, ³University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, ⁴RehaClinic, Bad Zurzach & Baden, Switzerland, ⁵Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland, ⁶University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Although it has been described that cerebral blood flow and cortical excitability is altered in migraineurs, it is unknown if these processes may be differentially involved in chronic and episodic forms of the disease. We used arterial spin labeling MRI und magnetic resonance spectroscopy (GABA-editing) to address this problem. We found lower levels of combined glutamate and glutamine in chronic and episodic migraineurs relative to controls. Chronic patients showed hypoperfusion relative to controls and episodic migraineurs. Our results might indicate severe signs of cortical spreading depression in chronic migraineurs. The MRS findings suggest a disturbed excitation-inhibition balance in migraineurs.

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