Guo Jiecheng, He Sixuan, Yan Li, Wang Lei, Shi Xuetao, Hu Huijing, Li Le
Xi'an Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.
Neural Regen Res. 2026 Mar 1;21(3):1183-1190. doi: 10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-24-00128. Epub 2024 Dec 7.
JOURNAL/nrgr/04.03/01300535-202603000-00042/figure1/v/2025-06-16T082406Z/r/image-tiff Although previous studies have demonstrated that transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation protects the ischemic brain, clear criteria for the stimulation time window and intensity are lacking. Electrical impedance tomography enables real-time monitoring of changes in cerebral blood perfusion within the ischemic brain, but investigating the feasibility of using this method to assess post-stroke rehabilitation in vivo remains critical. In this study, ischemic stroke was induced in rats through middle cerebral artery occlusion surgery. Transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation was used to treat the rat model of ischemia, and electrical impedance tomography was used to measure impedance during both the acute stage of ischemia and the rehabilitation stage following the stimulation. Electrical impedance tomography results indicated that cerebral impedance increased after the onset of ischemia and decreased following transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation. Furthermore, the stimulation promoted motor function recovery, reduced cerebral infarction volume in the rat model of ischemic stroke, and induced the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the ischemic brain. Our results also revealed a significant correlation between the impedance of the ischemic brain post-intervention and improvements in behavioral scores and infarct volume. This study shows that daily administration of transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation for 20 minutes to the ischemic hemisphere 24 hours after cerebral ischemia enhanced motor recovery in a rat model of ischemia. Additionally, our findings indicate that electrical impedance tomography can serve as a valuable tool for quantitatively evaluating rehabilitation after ischemic stroke in vivo . These findings suggest the feasibility of using impedance data collected via electrical impedance tomography to clinically assess the effects of rehabilitatory interventions for patients with ischemic stroke.
《期刊》/nrgr/04.03/01300535 - 202603000 - 00042/图1/v/2025 - 06 - 16T082406Z/图像 - 标签图像文件格式 尽管先前的研究表明经颅聚焦超声刺激可保护缺血性脑，但缺乏关于刺激时间窗和强度的明确标准。电阻抗断层成像能够实时监测缺血性脑内脑血流灌注的变化，但研究使用该方法评估体内中风后康复的可行性仍然至关重要。在本研究中，通过大脑中动脉闭塞手术在大鼠中诱导缺血性中风。使用经颅聚焦超声刺激治疗大鼠缺血模型，并在缺血急性期和刺激后的康复阶段使用电阻抗断层成像测量阻抗。电阻抗断层成像结果表明，缺血发作后脑阻抗增加，经颅聚焦超声刺激后降低。此外，刺激促进了运动功能恢复，减少了缺血性中风大鼠模型中的脑梗死体积，并诱导了缺血性脑中脑源性神经营养因子的表达。我们的结果还揭示了干预后缺血性脑的阻抗与行为评分和梗死体积改善之间存在显著相关性。本研究表明，在脑缺血24小时后每天对缺血半球进行20分钟的经颅聚焦超声刺激可增强缺血大鼠模型的运动恢复。此外，我们的研究结果表明电阻抗断层成像可作为定量评估体内缺血性中风后康复的有价值工具。这些发现提示了使用通过电阻抗断层成像收集的阻抗数据在临床上评估缺血性中风患者康复干预效果的可行性。
