Vision in migraine

Project Details

Migraine is an extremely common and disabling neurological condition that affects approximately 15% of Australian adults. Abnormal sensory experience is a prominent feature of migraine. People regularly report increased sensitivity to glare, to flickering stimuli and to striped patterns, as well as more pronounced neurological symptoms during attacks such as visual aura. Experimentally, sensory processing is abnormal between migraine events, and has been studied in laboratories internationally. These measured abnormalities are typically considered to arise from an imbalance of cortical inhibition and excitation. Despite being a key feature of migraine, understanding of the underlying mechanisms of sensory processing abnormalities is limited and their potential significance is poorly understood.The overarching purpose of this project is to clarify knowledge of perceptual abnormalities in migraine with the specific goal of developing a well-understood in-vivo assay of the balance between cortical excitation and inhibition, that may be used as a clinical tool to assist people to manage their migraine events.

Funding

National Health and Medical Research Council