Pathway-Specific Mediation Effect Between Structure, Function, and Motor Impairment After Subcortical Stroke

Background And Objective: To investigate the pathway-specific correspondence between structural and functional changes resulting from focal subcortical stroke and their causal influence on clinical symptom.

Methods: In this retrospective, cross-sectional study, we mainly focused on patients with unilateral subcortical chronic stroke with moderate-severe motor impairment assessed by Fugl-Meyer Assessment (upper extremity) and healthy controls. All participants underwent both resting-state fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging. To parse the pathway-specific structure-function covariation, we performed association analyses between the fine-grained corticospinal tracts (CSTs) originating from 6 subareas of the sensorimotor cortex and functional connectivity (FC) of the corresponding subarea, along with the refined corpus callosum (CC) sections and interhemispheric FC. A mediation analysis with FC as the mediator was used to further assess the pathway-specific effects of structural damage on motor impairment.

Results: Thirty-five patients (mean age 52.7 ± 10.2 years, 27 men) and 43 healthy controls (mean age 56.2 ± 9.3 years, 21 men) were enrolled. Among the 6 CSTs, we identified 9 structurally and functionally covaried pathways, originating from the ipsilesional primary motor area (M1), dorsal premotor area (PMd), and primary somatosensory cortex ( < 0.05, corrected). FC for the bilateral M1, PMd, and ventral premotor cortex covaried with secondary degeneration of the corresponding CC sections ( < 0.05, corrected). Moreover, these covarying structures and functions were significantly correlated with the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (upper extremity) scores ( < 0.05, uncorrected). In particular, FC between the ipsilesional PMd and contralesional cerebellum (β = -0.141, < 0.05, CI = [-0.319 to -0.015]) and interhemispheric FC of the PMd (β = 0.169, < 0.05, CI = [0.015-0.391]) showed significant mediation effects in the prediction of motor impairment with structural damage of the CST and CC.

Discussions: This study reveals causal influence of structural and functional pathways on motor impairment after subcortical stroke and provides a promising way to investigate pathway-specific structure-function coupling. Clinically, our findings may offer a circuit-based evidence for the PMd as a critical neuromodulation target in more impaired patients with stroke and also suggest the cerebellum as a potential target.