The Microstructural Status of the Corpus Callosum Is Associated with the Degree of Motor Function and Neurological Deficit in Stroke Patients

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 4; p. e0122615
• Main Authors: Li, Yongxin, Wu, Ping, Liang, Fanrong, Huang, Wenhua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 15.04.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animal models; Anisotropy; Brain; Brain Mapping; Chinese medicine; Cingulum; Connectivity; Corona; Corpus callosum; Corpus Callosum - pathology; Corpus Callosum - physiopathology; Correlation analysis; Cortex (motor); Cortex (occipital); Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods; Diffusivity; Female; Fibers; Human motion; Humans; Ischemia; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Medical imaging; Middle Aged; Motor skill; Motor Skills - physiology; Motor task performance; Nerve Net - physiopathology; Nervous System Diseases - physiopathology; Neural networks; Neuroimaging; Neurology; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Patients; Pyramidal tracts; Pyramidal Tracts - pathology; Pyramidal Tracts - physiopathology; Radiation; Spatial analysis; Statistical analysis; Stroke; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke patients; Structural damage; Structure-function relationships; Studies; Substantia alba; Teaching hospitals; Tensors; Thalamus; Tracking control; Traditional Chinese medicine; White Matter - pathology; White Matter - physiopathology; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122615

Human neuroimaging studies and animal models have suggested that white matter damage from ischemic stroke leads to the functional and structural reorganization of perilesional and remote brain regions. However, the quantitative relationship between the transcallosal tract integrity and clinical motor performance score after stroke remains unexplored. The current study employed a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the relationship between white matter diffusivity changes and the clinical scores in stroke patients. Probabilistic fiber tracking was also used to identify structural connectivity patterns in the patients. Thirteen ischemic stroke patients and fifteen healthy control subjects participated in this study. TBSS analyses showed that the corpus callosum (CC) and bilateral corticospinal tracts (CST) in the stroke patients exhibited significantly decreased fractional anisotropy and increased axial and radial diffusivity compared with those of the controls. Correlation analyses revealed that the motor and neurological deficit scores in the stroke patients were associated with the value of diffusivity indices in the CC. Compared with the healthy control group, probabilistic fiber tracking analyses revealed that significant changes in the inter-hemispheric fiber connections between the left and right motor cortex in the stroke patients were primarily located in the genu and body of the CC, left anterior thalamic radiation and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, bilateral CST, anterior/superior corona radiate, cingulum and superior longitudinal fasciculus, strongly suggesting that ischemic induces inter-hemispheric network disturbances and disrupts the white matter fibers connecting motor regions. In conclusion, the results of the present study show that DTI-derived measures in the CC can be used to predict the severity of motor skill and neurological deficit in stroke patients. Changes in structural connectivity pattern tracking between the left and right motor areas, particularly in the body of the CC, might reflect functional reorganization and behavioral deficit.