Altered Resting-State Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity in Post-Stroke Apathy: An fMRI Study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Apathy is a common, debilitating neuropsychiatric condition following stroke.
• It significantly impacts patient quality of life and rehabilitation outcomes.
• The underlying neural mechanisms of post-stroke apathy remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in cerebral activity and functional connectivity (FC) in stroke patients with and without apathy.
• To identify specific brain regions and networks associated with post-stroke apathy.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 59 acute ischemic stroke patients and 29 healthy controls.
• Assessed apathy using the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) at 3 months post-stroke.
• Measured cerebral activity using fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and examined FC via region-of-interest analysis.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in fALFF values were observed in the left middle temporal, right anterior cingulate, middle frontal, and cuneus regions.
• fALFF in the left middle temporal and right cuneus regions positively correlated with apathy severity.
• fALFF in the right anterior cingulate, right middle frontal gyrus, and middle cingulate gyrus negatively correlated with apathy severity.
• Altered functional connectivity within an apathy-related subnetwork was linked to post-stroke apathy (PSA).

Conclusions:

• Abnormalities in brain activity and functional connectivity in specific regions are associated with post-stroke apathy.
• These findings suggest potential neural mechanisms underlying apathy after stroke.
• This research offers new insights for the diagnosis and treatment of post-stroke apathy.