Cortical network characteristics in post-stroke anxiety: an fNIRS-based study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Clinical Neurology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Post-stroke anxiety (PSA) is a common complication affecting patient recovery.
• The neural mechanisms underlying PSA remain incompletely understood.
• Prefrontal cortex dysfunction is implicated in various neuropsychiatric disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate prefrontal hemodynamic activity in patients with PSA at rest and during cognitive tasks.
• To identify neural correlates of PSA for potential clinical applications.
• To explore the influence of comorbid depression on neural alterations in PSA.

Main Methods:

• Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure brain activity.
• Fifty patients with PSA and 45 controls were recruited.
• Participants underwent resting-state and verbal fluency task (VFT) assessments.

Main Results:

• Patients with PSA showed significantly reduced bilateral frontopolar cortex (FPC) activation during the VFT compared to controls.
• Comorbid depression in PSA patients was associated with further reduced activation in the bilateral FPC and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).
• No significant differences in resting-state functional connectivity were found between groups.

Conclusions:

• Reduced bilateral FPC activation may be a key neural substrate for PSA.
• Altered FPC and DLPFC activation patterns in PSA patients with depression may indicate neural correlates of depressive symptoms.
• These findings offer potential targets for future research and clinical interventions in PSA.