Acute sleep deprivation may increase cortical spreading depolarization (CSD) frequency and reduce its electrical threshold, according to study results published in The Journal of Headache and Pain.
The investigators described CSD, the electrophysiologic correlate of migraine aura, as a wave of sustained depolarization of neuronal and glial membranes that can be altered by various genetic and environmental factors. While sleep disorders are known migraine triggers, the underlying mechanism is not well understood. The goal of the current study was to explore the potential effect of sleep deprivation on CSD susceptibility.
