Cerebello-Cerebral Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Poststroke Aphasia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• The cerebellum's role in post-stroke aphasia recovery is not well understood.
• The right cerebellum is crucial for language and cognitive functions.
• Functional connections between the cerebellum and cerebral hemispheres after stroke are largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between chronic post-stroke naming deficits and cerebello-cerebral resting-state functional connectivity (FC).

Main Methods:

• Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used on 25 healthy controls and 42 participants with chronic post-stroke aphasia.
• Regions of interest (ROI)-to-ROI analyses examined FC between the right cerebellar Crus I/II and bilateral cortical language regions.
• Stepwise multiple linear regression associated Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores with FC measures, controlling for clinical variables.

Main Results:

• FC was observed between the right cerebellar Crus I/II and both left and right cortical regions in all participants.
• Aphasia severity and lesion load influenced cerebello-cerebral network connectivity in aphasia patients.
• FC between right Cereb2 and left Cereb1, right anterior MTG, and left anterior STG significantly predicted BNT scores (R² = 0.786, p = 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Functional connections between the right cerebellum and bilateral cerebral hemispheres may predict naming ability in post-stroke aphasia.
• These findings highlight the cerebellum's potential role in language recovery after stroke.