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Utilizing Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Improve Language Function in Stroke Patients with Chronic Non-fluent Aphasia
Published on: July 2, 2013
Disrupted Intrinsic Local Synchronization in Poststroke Aphasia.
Mi Yang1, Jiao Li, Dezhong Yao
1From the Center for Information in BioMedicine (MY, JL, DY, HC), Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and Department of Stomatology (MY), the Fourth People's Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, China.
Post-stroke aphasia patients show reduced brain synchronization in key language areas during rest. This local synchronization decrease in the superior frontal gyrus correlates with aphasia severity and naming deficits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Radiology
Background:
- Alterations in intrinsic neural networks are known in post-stroke aphasia (PSA).
- Limited data exists on local synchronization changes in spontaneous brain activity in PSA patients at rest.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate altered intrinsic local synchronization using regional homogeneity (ReHo) in PSA patients at rest.
- To explore correlations between abnormal ReHo values and aphasia severity and language performance.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) resting-state data was acquired from 17 PSA patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs).
- Regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis was used to assess local synchronization of spontaneous BOLD fluctuations.
- Correlation analyses were performed between ReHo values and clinical assessments (aphasia severity, naming scores).
Main Results:
- PSA patients exhibited decreased intrinsic local synchronization in several brain regions, including the right lingual gyrus, left calcarine, left cuneus, and left superior frontal gyrus (SFG).
- Specifically, reduced ReHo in the left medial SFG was positively correlated with increased aphasia severity (r=0.55, P=0.027).
- Local synchronization in the left medial SFG also positively correlated with naming scores on the Aphasia Battery of Chinese (r=0.66, P=0.005).
Conclusions:
- Abnormal intrinsic local synchronization in multiple brain regions may contribute to the pathogenesis of post-stroke aphasia.
- The findings highlight the role of local brain synchronization, even in the resting state, in language processing and recovery after stroke.
