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Resting state interhemispheric motor connectivity and white matter integrity correlate with motor impairment in chronic stroke.

ABSTRACT: Functional and structural reorganization in the brain occurs after stroke. The ability to predict motor outcomes may depend on patterns of brain functional and structural connectivity. We tested the hypothesis that alterations in motor transcallosal and corticospinal connections correlate with motor impairment in patients with chronic stroke. Eleven ischemic stroke patients underwent the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer (UE-FM) assessment, resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Twelve healthy control subjects underwent DTI. We assessed the temporal coupling in neural activity between interhemispheric motor cortex, and white matter integrity by means of fractional anisotropy (FA), in the transcallosal motor fibers and corticospinal tract. Partial correlation analyses were performed to determine whether these connectivity measures correlate with Upper UE-FM scores. Patients compared to controls had reduced FA in common voxels of transcallosal motor and ipsilesional corticospinal fibers. Within the patient group those with higher interhemispheric motor cortex connectivity and higher FA in the transcallosal motor fibers were less impaired. The results show that markers of functional and structural motor cortex connectivity correlate with motor impairment in the chronic stage of stroke.

SUBMITTER: Chen JL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3819700 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Resting state interhemispheric motor connectivity and white matter integrity correlate with motor impairment in chronic stroke.

Chen Joyce L JL Schlaug Gottfried G

Frontiers in neurology 20131107

Functional and structural reorganization in the brain occurs after stroke. The ability to predict motor outcomes may depend on patterns of brain functional and structural connectivity. We tested the hypothesis that alterations in motor transcallosal and corticospinal connections correlate with motor impairment in patients with chronic stroke. Eleven ischemic stroke patients underwent the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer (UE-FM) assessment, resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, and diffu ...[more]

PMID: 24223571

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Project description:Aims: To investigate the white matter (WM) integrity and hippocampal functional connectivity (FC) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), respectively. Methods: Twelve T2DM patients without MCI and 24 age, sex and education matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. DTI and rs-fMRI data were subsequently acquired on a 3.0T MR scanner. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) combining region of interests (ROIs) analysis was used to investigate the alterations of DTI metrics (fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), ?1 and ?23) and FC measurement was performed to calculate hippocampal FC with other brain regions. Cognitive function was evaluated by using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Brain volumes were also evaluated among these participants. Results: There were no difference of MMSE and MoCA scores between two groups. Neither whole brain nor regional brain volume decrease was revealed in T2DM patients without MCI. DTI analysis revealed extensive WM disruptions, especially in the body of corpus callosum (CC). Significant decreases of hippocampal FC with certain brain structures were revealed, especially with the bilateral frontal cortex. Furthermore, the decreased FA in left posterior thalamic radiation (PTR) and increased MD in the splenium of CC were closely related with the decreased hippocampal FC to caudate nucleus and frontal cortex. Conclusions: T2DM patients without MCI showed extensive WM disruptions and abnormal hippocampal FC. Moreover, the WM disruptions and abnormal hippocampal FC were closely associated. Highlights -T2DM patients without MCI demonstrated no obvious brain volume decrease.-Extensive white matter disruptions, especially within the body of corpus callosum, were revealed with DTI analysis among the T2DM patients.-Despite no MCI in T2DM patients, decreased functional connectivity between hippocampal region and some critical brain regions were detected.-The alterations in hippocampal functional connectivity were closely associated with those of the white matter structures in T2DM patients. This trial was registered to ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02420470, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/).

Project description:While a tumour in or abutting primary motor cortex leads to motor weakness, how tumours elsewhere in the frontal or parietal lobes affect functional connectivity in a weak patient is less clear. We hypothesized that diminished functional connectivity in a distributed network of motor centres would correlate with motor weakness in subjects with brain masses. Furthermore, we hypothesized that interhemispheric connections would be most vulnerable to subtle disruptions in functional connectivity. We used task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity to probe motor networks in control subjects and patients with brain tumours (n?=?22). Using a control dataset, we developed a method for automated detection of key nodes in the motor network, including the primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, premotor area and superior parietal lobule, based on the anatomic location of the hand-motor knob in the primary motor cortex. We then calculated functional connectivity between motor network nodes in control subjects, as well as patients with and without brain masses. We used this information to construct weighted, undirected graphs, which were then compared to variables of interest, including performance on a motor task, the grooved pegboard. Strong connectivity was observed within the identified motor networks between all nodes bilaterally, and especially between the primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area. Reduced connectivity was observed in subjects with motor weakness versus subjects with normal strength (P?<?0.001). This difference was driven mostly by decreases in interhemispheric connectivity between the primary motor cortices (P?<?0.05) and between the left primary motor cortex and the right premotor area (P?<?0.05), as well as other premotor area connections. In the subjects without motor weakness, however, performance on the grooved pegboard did not relate to interhemispheric connectivity, but rather was inversely correlated with connectivity between the left premotor area and left supplementary motor area, for both the left and the right hands (P?<?0.01). Finally, two subjects who experienced severe weakness following surgery for their brain tumours were followed longitudinally, and the subject who recovered showed reconstitution of her motor network at follow-up. The subject who was persistently weak did not reconstitute his motor network. Motor weakness in subjects with brain tumours that do not involve primary motor structures is associated with decreased connectivity within motor functional networks, particularly interhemispheric connections. Motor networks become weaker as the subjects become weaker, and may become strong again during motor recovery.

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Resting state interhemispheric motor connectivity and white matter integrity correlate with motor impairment in chronic stroke.

Publications

Resting state interhemispheric motor connectivity and white matter integrity correlate with motor impairment in chronic stroke.

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