Open AccessRelating excitatory and inhibitory neurochemicals to visual perception: A magnetic resonance study of occipital cortex between migraine events
Author(s) -
Yu Man Chan,
Kabilan Pitchaimuthu,
Qi Zhu Wu,
Olivia Carter,
Gary Egan,
David R. Badcock,
Allison M McKendrick
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0208666
Subject(s) - percept , neuroscience , neurochemical , visual cortex , neurochemistry , binocular rivalry , psychology , migraine , context (archaeology) , rivalry , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , glutamate receptor , occipital lobe , audiology , medicine , visual perception , perception , neurology , psychiatry , biology , paleontology , macroeconomics , economics , receptor
Certain perceptual measures have been proposed as indirect assays of brain neurochemical status in people with migraine. One such measure is binocular rivalry, however, previous studies have not measured rivalry characteristics and brain neurochemistry together in people with migraine. This study compared spectroscopy-measured levels of GABA and Glx (glutamine and glutamate complex) in visual cortex between 16 people with migraine and 16 non-headache controls, and assessed whether the concentration of these neurochemicals explains, at least partially, inter-individual variability in binocular rivalry perceptual measures. Mean Glx level was significantly reduced in migraineurs relative to controls, whereas mean occipital GABA levels were similar between groups. Neither GABA levels, nor Glx levels correlated with rivalry percept duration. Our results thus suggest that the previously suggested relationship between rivalry percept duration and GABAergic inhibitory neurotransmitter concentration in visual cortex is not strong enough to enable rivalry percept duration to be reliably assumed to be a surrogate for GABA concentration, at least in the context of healthy individuals and those that experience migraine.