Abstract text (incl. figure legends and references)

Question: Many studies have highlighted altered sensory processing underlying headache and non-headache symptoms in migraine, however a consensus is yet to be reached due to conflicting clinical data. Further electrophysiological investigation is needed to shed a light on pathophysiology and potential therapeutic targets, but existing tools are limited and expensive. We chose to study visual evoked potentials in a murine model of migraine using an open-source electrophysiology suite (Open-Ephys).

Methods: Visual evoked potentials (VEP) were obtained by LED flash stimulation (100 trials @ 1Hz) in anaesthetised mice (n=8) and acquired into Open-Ephys. Mice were injected with an acute dose of the migraine trigger nitroglycerin (10mg/kg i.p.) and VEPs were measured at 30min and 1hr. Data analysis was performed using custom MATLAB scripts to assess VEP amplitude, latency and spontaneous activity.

Results: We were able to record visual evoked potentials from V1 in response to flash stimuli using Open-Ephys. Preliminary data show NTG resulted in an increased VEP amplitude and a decreased latency of the P1 peak, associated with the extrastriate cortex. Additionally, spontaneous activity is shown to decrease after NTG injection, potentially reflecting vasodilatory effects of the compound.

Conclusion: Open-source electrophysiology systems offer a low-cost alternative to traditional systems and offer customiseable experimental tools tailored to research questions. Its open-source nature enables researchers to share and access neurophysiology tools used in other labs, which is particularly relevant to the headache field, as its pathophysiology most likely involves the interaction of diverse neural circuits which require equally complex tools to unravel. This study demonstrates its feasibility in investigating migraine-relevant cortical areas and further work will be conducted to explore multi-modal thalamocortical circuits in migraine.