Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, China.
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, China.
Neural Plast. 2022 Mar 10;2022:1460326. doi: 10.1155/2022/1460326. eCollection 2022.
The analysis of structural covariance has emerged as a powerful tool to explore the morphometric correlations among broadly distributed brain regions. However, little is known about the interactions between the damaged primary motor cortex (M1) and other brain regions in stroke patients with motor deficits. This study is aimed at investigating the structural covariance pattern of the ipsilesional M1 in chronic subcortical stroke patients with motor deficits. High-resolution T1-weighted brain images were acquired from 58 chronic subcortical stroke patients with motor deficits (29 with left-sided lesions and 29 with right-sided lesions) and 50 healthy controls. Structural covariance patterns were identified by a seed-based structural covariance method based on gray matter (GM) volume. Group comparisons between stroke patients (left-sided or right-sided groups) and healthy controls were determined by a permutation test. The association between alterations in the regional GM volume and motor recovery after stroke was investigated by a multivariate regression approach. Structural covariance analysis revealed an extensive increase in the structural interactions between the ipsilesional M1 and other brain regions in stroke patients, involving not only motor-related brain regions but also non-motor-related brain regions. We also identified a slightly different pattern of structural covariance between the left-sided stroke group and the right-sided stroke group, thus indicating a lesion-side effect of cortical reorganization after stroke. Moreover, alterations in the GM volume of structural covariance brain regions were significantly correlated to the motor function scores in stroke patients. These findings indicated that the structural covariance patterns of the ipsilesional M1 in chronic subcortical stroke patients were induced by motor-related plasticity. Our findings may help us to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms of motor impairment and recovery in patients with subcortical stroke from different perspectives.
结构协变分析已成为探索广泛分布的大脑区域之间形态计量相关性的有力工具。然而，对于运动功能障碍的中风患者中受损的初级运动皮层（M1）与其他大脑区域之间的相互作用知之甚少。本研究旨在研究运动功能障碍的慢性皮质下中风患者中同侧 M1 的结构协变模式。从 58 名运动功能障碍的慢性皮质下中风患者（29 名左侧病变和 29 名右侧病变）和 50 名健康对照者中获取了高分辨率 T1 加权脑图像。通过基于灰质（GM）体积的种子结构协变方法确定结构协变模式。通过置换检验确定中风患者（左侧或右侧组）与健康对照组之间的组间比较。通过多元回归方法研究区域 GM 体积变化与中风后运动功能恢复之间的关系。结构协变分析显示，中风患者同侧 M1 与其他大脑区域之间的结构相互作用广泛增加，不仅涉及运动相关的大脑区域，还涉及非运动相关的大脑区域。我们还发现左侧中风组和右侧中风组之间的结构协变模式略有不同，这表明中风后皮质重组存在病变侧效应。此外，结构协变脑区 GM 体积的变化与中风患者的运动功能评分显著相关。这些发现表明，慢性皮质下中风患者同侧 M1 的结构协变模式是由运动相关的可塑性引起的。我们的研究结果可能有助于从不同角度更好地理解皮质下中风患者运动障碍和恢复的神经生物学机制。
