White matter disconnection impacts proprioception post-stroke

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurorehabilitation
• White Matter Tracts

Background:

• Proprioceptive impairments affect 50-64% of stroke survivors.
• Understanding white matter's role in post-stroke proprioception is limited.
• Behavioral deficits often stem from brain network disconnections.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate white matter disconnection in relation to proprioceptive deficits after stroke.
• To identify specific white matter tracts associated with impaired arm position matching.

Main Methods:

• Assessed white matter lesion load and performance on a robotic arm position matching (APM) task in 203 stroke survivors.
• Utilized neuroimaging and robotic assessments approximately 2 weeks post-stroke.
• Examined disconnectome differences between participants with and without APM impairments.

Main Results:

• Increased lesion load in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF II and III), arcuate fasciculus, and fronto-insular tracts correlated with poorer APM performance.
• Participants with APM impairments showed additional disconnection in the posterior corpus callosum, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and optic radiations.

Conclusions:

• A perisylvian white matter network is crucial for proprioceptive processing post-stroke.
• Identified key white matter tracts, beyond traditional pathways, involved in relaying proprioceptive information from parietal and frontal regions.