BackgroundInter-regional covariation in grey-matter (GM) structure may provide insights into disease mechanisms. Given that migraine with aura (MA) has been linked to occipital GM alterations, it is plausible that altered occipital GM covariance may also exist in MA.MethodsStructural magnetic resonance images were obtained from 50 MA patients, 50 migraine patients without aura (MO) and 50 healthy controls (HC). Mean GM densities were extracted according to the Automated Anatomical Labeling atlas and regional and global network metrics were compared among the three groups. The local measures primarily focused on occipital regions. We further examined whether voxel-wise covariance of the significant regions was associated with clinical parameters.ResultsIncreased nodal degree was observed in the right lingual gyrus in MA when compared with HC (p < 0.001, p(FDR) = 0.018) and MO (p = 0.005, p(FDR) = 0.059), though the latter did not pass correction. In MA, the right lingual gyrus was identified as a hub region and its covariance with the right posterior insula and the left ventral postcentral gyrus was negatively correlated with migraine duration. Global network measures did not differ among the groups.ConclusionMA was associated with localized changes in the GM-network of the visual system, which may interact with pain-related brain regions depending on the duration of the disorder.
Keywords: grey matter density; lingual gyrus; structural covariance; visual aura; visual network.