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Papers of the Week


Papers: 18 Dec 2021 - 24 Dec 2021

RESEARCH TYPE:
Psychology


Human Studies, Pharmacology/Drug Development

PAIN TYPE:
Migraine/Headache


2021


PLoS One


16


12

Inter-individual differences in pain anticipation and pain perception in migraine: Neural correlates of migraine frequency and cortisol-to-dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) ratio.

Authors

Kökönyei G, Galambos A, Kocsel N, Szabó E, Édes A E, Gecse K, Baksa D, Pap D, Kozák LR, Bagdy G, Juhász G
PLoS One. 2021; 16(12):e0261570.
PMID: 34929017.

Abstract

Previous studies targeting inter-individual differences in pain processing in migraine mainly focused on the perception of pain. Our main aim was to disentangle pain anticipation and perception using a classical fear conditioning task, and investigate how migraine frequency and pre-scan cortisol-to-dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) ratio as an index of neurobiological stress response would relate to neural activation in these two phases. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data of 23 participants (18 females; mean age: 27.61± 5.36) with episodic migraine without aura were analysed. We found that migraine frequency was significantly associated with pain anticipation in brain regions comprising the midcingulate and caudate, whereas pre-scan cortisol-to DHEA-S ratio was related to pain perception in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA). Both results suggest exaggerated preparatory responses to pain or more general to stressors, which may contribute to the allostatic load caused by stressors and migraine attacks on the brain.