Different aspects of hand grip performance associated with structural connectivity of distinct sensorimotor networks in chronic stroke

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Christian Schranz, Medical University of South Carolina; Shraddha Srivastava, Medical University of South Carolina; Bryant A Seamon, Medical University of South Carolina; Barbara Marebwa, Medical University of South Carolina; Leonardo Bonilha, Emory University; Viswanathan Ramakrishnan, Medical University of South Carolina; Janina Wilmskoetter, Medical University of South Carolina; Richard R Neptune, The University of Texas at Austin; Steve A Kautz, Medical University of South Carolina; Na Jin Seo, Medical University of South Carolina
• Language: English
• Date: 2023-04-01
• Publisher: Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2023 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.14814/phy2.15659
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Physiological Reports
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 7
• Start Page: e15659
• End Page: e15659
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the Rehabilitation Research & Development Service of the Department of Veteran Affairs through Grants 1I01RX001935 and I01RX003066, Senior Research Career Scientist award through Grant 1IK6RX003075, National Institute of General Medical Sciences P20GM109040, and National Institutes of Health/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R01HD094731.
• Keywords: Stroke; Cross-Sectional Studies; Pilot Projects; grip force; stroke; brain networks; Brain; Humans; Hand Strength; Hand; connectome; upper extremities
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Knowledge regarding the neural origins of distinct upper extremity impairments may guide the choice of interventions to target neural structures responsible for specific impairments. This cross-sectional pilot study investigated whether different brain networks explain distinct aspects of hand grip performance in stroke survivors. In 22 chronic stroke survivors, hand grip performance was characterized as grip strength, reaction, relaxation times, and control of grip force magnitude and direction. In addition, their brain structural connectomes were constructed from diffusion tensor MRI. Prominent networks were identified based on a two-step factor analysis using the number of streamlines among brain regions relevant to sensorimotor function. We used regression models to estimate the predictive value of sensorimotor network connectivity for hand grip performance measures while controlling for stroke lesion volumes. Each hand grip performance measure correlated with the connectivity of distinct brain sensorimotor networks. These results suggest that different brain networks may be responsible for different aspects of hand grip performance, which leads to varying clinical presentations of upper extremity impairment following stroke. Understanding the brain network correlates for different hand grip performances may facilitate the development of personalized rehabilitation interventions to directly target the responsible brain network for specific impairments in individual patients, thus improving outcomes.