The association between migraines and hypersensitivity to light has long been considered a contradiction to the fact that headaches actually lead to decreased activity of neurons in the visual cortex. Now, researchers led by Niccolo Meneghetti have shed light on this paradox: During a migraine, neurons are actually less active, but at the same time they are able to sync up faster, so that the collective response of the visual cortex is able to spread. Even excessive effectiveness.
“In people who suffer from headaches, there is a strengthening of ‘inhibitory’ neurons, the role of which is to reduce brain activity,” Mengeti explains. “However, less activity does not necessarily mean that information does not continue to travel: in fact, not only do neurons continue to talk to each other – the researcher continues – but inhibitory neurons synchronize their connections by packets faster than they do without a migraine.” .
“To understand the pathological behaviors of neurons, we always start from a mathematical model of healthy behavior and then study how disease-induced changes in individual neurons lead to changes in network dynamics, and thus to malfunctions,” says Alberto Mazzoni della Scola Santana, one of the study’s authors. “This is only possible through a very close collaboration between those who obtain the data and those who analyze it – adds Mazzoni – or the neurophysiologists and neuroengineers who worked on this study.”
“Infuriatingly humble social media buff. Twitter advocate. Writer. Internet nerd.”
