Wang Jie, Ma Yanping, Zhang Haiping, Li Na, Xu Hangrui, Liang Yanan, Luo Meiling, Wang Yonghui
Rehabilitation Center, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, No. 107, Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
Rehabilitation Center, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, No. 107, Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
Brain Res Bull. 2025 Apr;223:111287. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2025.111287. Epub 2025 Mar 4.
The alterations in the swallowing cortical network associated with taste stimulation in patients with post-stroke dysphagia remain unclear. The aim of the study was to investigate the alterations in brain functional activity among individuals with post-stroke dysphagia under taste stimuli using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We recruited 28 patients with post-stroke dysphagia and 24 age-matched healthy controls in this study. Each of them completed swallowing evaluation, resting-state and swallowing task-related fNIRS test. We found that the brain activation of patients significantly decreased in the left and right supplemental motor area (SMA) for water swallowing task and the left SMA and right primary sensory area (S1) for salty water swallowing, compared with healthy controls, only the left SMA remained significant for salty water swallowing after False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction. Fourteen healthy controls and 13 patients were included in the subgroup analysis, to explore the influences of preferred taste on swallowing network, we observed that the brain activation in the right S1 was significantly reduced during water swallowing in patient group (p = 0.008, with FDR corrected), all channels showed similar strengths in the activation under preferred taste stimulus between the groups. Functional connectivity (FC) between hemispheric sensorimotor areas were significantly decreased in patients compared with healthy controls. Our investigation revealed a noteworthy reduction in the activation of the left SMA during the salty water swallowing task in patients with dysphagia when compared to the healthy control group. The dysphagic patients following stroke exhibited impaired interaction between hemispheric sensorimotor areas associated with swallowing. Sour, sweet, and preferred taste stimulation have the potential to enhance brain plasticity, which may offer new insights for developing novel strategies for post-stroke dysphagia.
中风后吞咽困难患者中与味觉刺激相关的吞咽皮质网络改变仍不清楚。本研究的目的是使用功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）研究中风后吞咽困难个体在味觉刺激下脑功能活动的改变。本研究招募了28例中风后吞咽困难患者和24例年龄匹配的健康对照。他们每个人都完成了吞咽评估、静息状态和吞咽任务相关的fNIRS测试。我们发现，与健康对照相比，患者在吞咽水任务时左右辅助运动区（SMA）以及吞咽盐水时左SMA和右初级感觉区（S1）的脑激活显著降低，经错误发现率（FDR）校正后，吞咽盐水时仅左SMA仍具有显著性。14名健康对照和13名患者纳入亚组分析，以探讨偏好味觉对吞咽网络的影响，我们观察到患者组在吞咽水时右S1的脑激活显著降低（p = 0.008，经FDR校正），两组在偏好味觉刺激下所有通道的激活强度相似。与健康对照相比，患者半球感觉运动区之间的功能连接（FC）显著降低。我们的研究表明，与健康对照组相比，吞咽困难患者在吞咽盐水任务时左SMA的激活显著降低。中风后的吞咽困难患者在与吞咽相关的半球感觉运动区之间表现出相互作用受损。酸、甜和偏好味觉刺激有可能增强脑可塑性，这可能为开发中风后吞咽困难的新策略提供新的见解。
