Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability, making the search for successful rehabilitation treatment one of the most important public health issues. A better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying impairment and recovery and the development of associated markers is critical for tailoring treatments to each individual patient with the ultimate goal of maximizing therapeutic outcomes. Here, we used a novel and powerful method consisting of combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and multichannel electroencephalography (EEG) to analyze TMS-induced brain oscillations in a large cohort of 60 stroke patients from the acute to the early-chronic phase after a stroke. A data-driven parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) approach to tensor decomposition allowed to detect brain oscillatory modes specifically centered on the θ, α and β frequency bands. In the acute stage, patients presented a general slowdown of these oscillatory modes, highlighting stroke-induced perturbations within thalamocortical processing. Furthermore, low-frequency modes evolved across stroke stages, according to the extent of motor recovery, associated with changes in GABAergic intracortical inhibition. Overall, these longitudinal changes provide novel insights into the ongoing functional reorganization of brain networks after a stroke and the underlying mechanisms. Notably, we propose that the observed α-mode decrease corresponds to a beneficial disinhibition phase between the subacute and early-chronic stages that fosters structural and functional plasticity and facilitates recovery. Monitoring this phenomenon at the individual patient level will provide critical information for phenotyping patients, developing electrophysiological biomarkers and refining therapies based on personalized excitatory/inhibitory neuromodulation using noninvasive or invasive brain stimulation techniques.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.