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A Ketogenic Diet Acts on Cortical But Not Subcortical Responsivity in Migraineurs

A Ketogenic Diet Normalizes Interictal Cortical But Not Subcortical Responsivity in Migraineurs

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03775252
Enrollment
18
Registered
2018-12-13
Start date
2017-01-01
Completion date
2017-11-30
Last updated
2018-12-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Migraine Disorders

Keywords

Ketogenic Diet

Brief summary

A short ketogenic diet (KD) treatment can prevent migraine attacks and correct excessive cortical response. Here, investigators aim to prove if the KD-related changes of cortical excitability are primarily due to cerebral cortex activity or are modulated by the brainstem. Through the stimulation of the right supraorbital division of the trigeminal nerve, there will be concurrently interictally recorded the nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) and the pain-related evoked potentials (PREP) in 18 migraineurs patients without aura before and after 1-month on KD, while in metabolic ketosis. nBR and PREP reflect distinct brain structures activation: the brainstem and the cerebral cortex respectively. It will be estimated nBR R2 component area-under-the-curve as well as PREP amplitude habituation as the slope of the linear regression between the 1st and the 2nd block of 5 averaged responses.

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTKetogenic diet

Diet rich in fats and poor in carbohydrate, to induce metabolic ketosis

Sponsors

University of Roma La Sapienza
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Diagnosis of migraine * Kept a headache diary for at least 1 month * Headache onset before the age of 50

Exclusion criteria

* over consumption of acute pain-killers (triptan, analgesic, or ergotamine) * pregnancy or lactation * type I diabetes * serious organic or psychiatric disorders that the investigators judged as having the potential to influence the trial evaluation.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Trigeminal neurophysiological changes (amplitude)one monthComparison before and during ketogenic diet of trigeminal neurophysiological features in a population of patients with migraine. In particular, the nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) and the trigeminal pain-related evoked potentials (PREPs) changes of amplitude between the baseline (pre-diet) and during the diet will be used as markers of ketones activity on neural modulation. The unit of measure of the amplitude of neurophysiological evoked responses are the micronVolts (1 volt X 10\^-6).
Trigeminal neurophysiological changes (latencies)one monthComparison before and during ketogenic diet of latencies of trigeminal neurophysiological evoked responses in a population of patients with migraine. In particular, the latency of evoked nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) and the trigeminal pain-related evoked potentials (PREPs) changes between the baseline (pre-diet) and during the diet. The unit of measure of the latency of the neurophysiological features are the milliseconds (1 sec X 10\^-3).
Trigeminal neurophysiological changes (slope)one monthComparison before and during ketogenic diet of the habituation slope of amplitudes of repeated responses to repetitive trigeminal painful electrical stimuli in a population of patients with migraine. A repetitive stimulus induces repetitive responses from the brainstem and cerebral cortex that physiologically have a decremental trend of amplitudes, also called habituation. On the contrary, in migraineurs, there is a deficit of habituation, i.e. a lack of decremental responses, both in nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) and the trigeminal pain-related evoked potentials (PREPs). The changes induced by ketogenic diet in habituation slope will be measured. The unit of measure of the slope is the radiant degree.

Countries

Italy

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 21, 2026