Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 4: Statistical Physics of Biological Systems II (joint BP, DY)

BP 4.1: Invited Talk

Monday, March 22, 2010, 14:00–14:30, H45

Nonlinear dynamics and control of migraine waves — •Markus Dahlem — Institut f. Theo. Physik, Sekr. EW 7-1, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany

Migraine is a dynamical disease. A mechanism is presented by which traveling wave patterns, which cause migraine, are formed in the 2D folded human cortex. The predicted wave is maintained only transiently but with a characteristic form (shape and size). Such patterns contradict the established image of a migraine wave engulfing one cortical hemisphere, but we found that they are in agreement with our results obtained from a study using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The mechanism is based on an unstable particle-like wave solution that exists in generic reaction-diffusion media of activator-inhibitor type. This solution can vanish in a saddle-node bifurcation if excitability is globally controlled. This creates a bottleneck region in phase space that sucks in all sufficiently largely perturbed cortical states (ignition phase in migraine). While, as a consequence, recovery is slowed down, a pattern with universal space and time scales emerges. Our bifurcation analysis is also supported by numerical simulations. Moreover, it is shown analytically that such confined waves favor certain cortical geometries. Consequences are discussed for the design and application of biomedically engineered devices that can be used in therapeutic approaches to intelligently target migraine waves by changing the bottleneck passage time and thus more quickly revive the physiological state of the cortex.