Abstract
Background.
The cortical plastic changes in response to median nerve electrical
stimulation (MNES) in stroke patients have not been entirely
illustrated.
Objective. This study aimed to investigate
(Should have been produce a protocol on MNES)MNES-related changes in effective connectivity (EC) within a cortical
network after stroke by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy
(fNIRS). Methods. The cerebral oxygenation signals in the
bilateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC/RPFC), motor cortex (LMC/RMC), and
occipital lobe (LOL/ROL) of 20 stroke patients with right hemiplegia
were measured by fNIRS in 2 conditions: (1) resting state and (2) MNES
applied to the right wrist. Coupling function together with dynamical
Bayesian inference was used to assess MNES-related changes in EC among
the cerebral low-frequency fluctuations.
Results. Compared with
the resting state, EC from LPFC and RPFC to LOL was significantly
increased during the MNES state in stroke patients. Additionally, MNES
triggered significantly higher coupling strengths from LMC and LOL to
RPFC. The interregional main coupling direction was observed from LPFC
to bilateral motor and occipital areas in responding to MNES, suggesting
that MNES could promote the regulation function of ipsilesional
prefrontal areas in the functional network. MNES can induce muscle
twitch of the stroke-affected hand involving a decreased neural coupling
of the contralesional motor area on the ipsilesional MC.
Conclusions.
MNES can trigger sensorimotor stimulations of the affected hand that
sequentially involved functional reorganization of distant cortical
areas after stroke. Investigating MNES-related changes in EC after
stroke may help further our understanding of the neural mechanisms
underlying MNES.
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