Wang Hongxing, Cao Xuejin, Quan Jia, Zhou Hengrui, Liu Yanli, Wang Wei, Wang Zan, Ju Shenghong, Wang Yuancheng, Guo Yijing
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Affiliated Zhongda Hospital of Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
School of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina, School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China.
Front Neurosci. 2025 Jul 30;19:1636135. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1636135. eCollection 2025.
Temporal changes in brain structure and function following rehabilitation, and their relationship with positive recovery in stroke patients experiencing hemiplegia, remain unclear. This study used multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the longitudinal changes in the brains of stroke patients with good outcomes after motor rehabilitation.
Eight subcortical ischemic stroke patients with hemiplegia were enrolled. Multimodal MRI data and clinical assessments were collected in the stable post-acute period and at a 3-month follow-up. Functional connectivity (FC) was calculated for motor-related regions of interest (ROIs) based on functional MRI data. Gray matter volumes (GMVs) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters were analyzed to evaluate the temporal changes during recovery.
Compared with initial scans, follow-up scans revealed FC changes between several brain regions, e.g., FC increased between the ipsilesional thalamus and the contralesional middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Increased GMV was observed in the contralesional MTG, while GMV decreased in the contralesional cerebellum, correlating with Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) scores at follow-up.
The findings suggest that MTG is a key area for neuronal activation and functional reconstruction in stroke patients during motor recovery. These results deepen our understanding of the imaging manifestations of structural and functional neural remodeling during rehabilitation.
康复后脑结构和功能的时间变化及其与偏瘫中风患者良好恢复的关系仍不清楚。本研究采用多模态磁共振成像（MRI）来研究运动康复后预后良好的中风患者大脑的纵向变化。
纳入8例患有偏瘫的皮质下缺血性中风患者。在急性后期稳定期和3个月随访时收集多模态MRI数据和临床评估。基于功能MRI数据计算运动相关感兴趣区域（ROI）的功能连接（FC）。分析灰质体积（GMV）和扩散张量成像（DTI）参数以评估恢复过程中的时间变化。
与初始扫描相比，随访扫描显示几个脑区之间的FC发生变化，例如，患侧丘脑与对侧颞中回（MTG）之间的FC增加。对侧MTG的GMV增加，而对侧小脑的GMV减少，这与随访时的动作研究臂测试（ARAT）评分相关。
研究结果表明，MTG是中风患者运动恢复过程中神经元激活和功能重建的关键区域。这些结果加深了我们对康复过程中结构和功能神经重塑成像表现的理解。
