The effect of subcortical stroke on motor imagery-related cortex functional connectivity

Objective: To investigate motor imagery-related cortex functional connectivity of subcortical stroke patient, via task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Method: Twenty-four patients with subcortical stroke on the left motor pathway and 24 health controls with matched gender and age were performed resting-state fMRI examination. Selecting the inferior parietal lobule as the seed point and calculating its functional connectivity with other cortex, the difference of resting-static functional connectivity between the two groups was calculated with paired t-test. Result: Comparing with heath controls, stroke patients showed significant variation of functional connectivity in motor imagery related brain areas. The decreased functional connectivity with the ipsilateral IPL located mainly in the contralateral cerebral hemisphere, including the inferior parietal lobe, supplementary area premotor cortex, pars opercularis of inferior frontal gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus. The decrease was less in the ipsilateral supplementary area and premotor cortex. Conversely, functional connectivity between the inferior parietal lobule and pars opercularis of inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral cerebellum increased in stroke patients. Conclusion: Impairment of motor imagery-related cortex functional connectivity in subcortical stroke patients was proved by resting-state fMRI functional connectivity analysis.