1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Migraine Patients

To investigate the glutaminergic system in the onset of migraine-like attacks.

Glyceryl trinitrate infusion (GTN) is used to provoke migraine-like attacks in female migraine without aura patients. Apart from migraine without aura patients healthy female controls are also included as a control group. Over the course of a single day these females (migraineurs and healthy controls) were scanned three times on fixed time slots: before GTN infusion (baseline), 90 minutes and 270 minutes after start of GTN infusion. Scans are acquired on a 7 tesla scanner (Philips, Cleveland, USA) on software release 3 using a 32 channel receive array using single-volume proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) with a volume of interest in the visual cortex glutamate, in which glutamate, GABA and other metabolites will be assessed. The primary endpoint; glutamate level changes towards the pre-ictal and ictal state with other metabolite (e.g. glutamine and GABA) changes as secondary endpoints.