Analysis of Correlation Between White Matter Changes and Functional Responses in Post-stroke Depression

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Imaging
• Network Science

Background:

• Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a prevalent neuropsychiatric complication following stroke.
• The underlying brain network mechanisms and the interplay between structural and functional networks in PSD remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC) in patients with PSD.
• To explore the potential of SC-FC coupling as a biomarker for PSD using graph theory.

Main Methods:

• Forty-five acute ischemic stroke patients were categorized into PSD and non-PSD groups.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to assess brain networks.
• Graph theory, network construction, and module analysis were employed to examine SC-FC coupling.

Main Results:

• The structural network in PSD patients showed reduced clustering and increased path length compared to non-PSD.
• Lower modularity was observed in the structural network of the PSD group.
• SC-FC coupling patterns differed between PSD and non-PSD groups.

Conclusions:

• SC-FC coupling may serve as a potential biomarker for identifying post-stroke depression.
• Aberrant SC-FC similarity is associated with cognitive dysfunction, psychomotor retardation, and feelings of desperation in PSD patients.
• This study highlights distinct structural-functional brain network differences in PSD.