Martin Randi C, Ding Junhua, Alwani Ali I, Fung Steve H, Schnur Tatiana T
Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA.
Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
bioRxiv. 2024 Aug 16:2024.08.16.608246. doi: 10.1101/2024.08.16.608246.
Researchers propose that the recovery of language function following stroke depends on the recruitment of perilesional regions in the left hemisphere and/or homologous regions in the right hemisphere (Kiran, 2012). Many investigations of recovery focus on changes in gray matter regions (e.g., Turkeltaub et al., 2011), whereas relatively few examine white matter tracts (e.g., Schlaug et al., 2009) and none address the role of these tracts in the recovery of verbal working memory (WM). The present study addressed these gaps, examining the role of left vs. right hemisphere tracts in the longitudinal recovery of phonological and semantic WM. For 24 individuals with left hemisphere stroke, we assessed WM performance within one week of stroke (acute timepoint) and at more than six months after stroke (chronic timepoint). To address whether recovery depends on the recruitment of left or right hemisphere tracts, we assessed whether changes in WM were related to the integrity of five white matter tracts in the left hemisphere which had been implicated previously in verbal WM and their right hemisphere analogues. Behavioral results showed significant improvement in semantic but not phonological WM from the acute to chronic timepoints. Improvements in semantic WM significantly correlated with tract integrity as measured by functional anisotropy in the left direct segment of the arcuate fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and inferior longitudinal fasciculus. The results confirm the role of white matter tracts in language recovery and support the involvement of the left rather than right hemisphere in the recovery of semantic WM.
研究人员提出，中风后语言功能的恢复取决于左半球病灶周围区域和/或右半球同源区域的募集（基兰，2012年）。许多关于恢复的研究集中在灰质区域的变化（例如，特尔克陶布等人，2011年），而相对较少研究白质束（例如，施劳格等人，2009年），并且没有研究这些白质束在言语工作记忆（WM）恢复中的作用。本研究填补了这些空白，研究了左半球与右半球白质束在语音和语义工作记忆纵向恢复中的作用。对于24名左半球中风患者，我们在中风后一周内（急性期）和中风后六个多月（慢性期）评估了工作记忆表现。为了研究恢复是否取决于左半球或右半球白质束的募集，我们评估了工作记忆的变化是否与左半球先前与言语工作记忆相关的五条白质束及其右半球对应束的完整性有关。行为结果显示，从急性期到慢性期，语义工作记忆有显著改善，而语音工作记忆没有。语义工作记忆的改善与通过弓状束左直接段、额枕下束和下纵束的功能各向异性测量的白质束完整性显著相关。结果证实了白质束在语言恢复中的作用，并支持左半球而非右半球参与语义工作记忆的恢复。
