%0 Journal Article
%A Tscherpel, Caroline
%A Mustin, Maike
%A Rosjat, Nils
%A Mais, Lea-Theresa
%A Ziemann, Ulf
%A Fink, Gereon R
%A Daun, Silvia
%A Grefkes, Christian
%T Evoked slow oscillations and dynamic network reorganization after stroke
%J Brain communications
%V 7
%N 6
%@ 2632-1297
%C [Oxford]
%I Oxford University Press
%M FZJ-2025-05732
%P fcaf391
%D 2025
%Z G.R.F., C.G. and C.T. are funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—Project-ID 431549029—SFB 1451 (projects B03, B06, C05 and Z03).
%X A focal ischemic lesion is thought to alter neuronal activity beyond the area of structural damage, thereby interfering with the whole network architecture. Here, we used a combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography in conjunction with dynamic connectivity analyses and graph theory to study alterations and reorganization of cortical connectivity in a cohort of 41 patients longitudinally after stroke. We found a link between an increase in low-frequency coupling in the delta band and alterations in neural information processing in the first weeks after stroke and their relevance for motor outcome >3 months later. We demonstrated that stroke enhances slow activity and delta coupling between frontocentral and parietal regions. In addition, we observed a loss of the physiological network architecture with a decrease in small-worldness and modularity in the delta frequency, implying that a focal ischemic lesion interferes with both cortical information integration and functional segregation within the first weeks after stroke. While we found a link between bifrontal coupling in the alpha spectrum and the degree of the motor deficit in the early post-acute phase, the amount of small-worldness disruption early after stroke indicated the motor outcome in the follow-up session. In contrast, recovery of motor function and cortical reorganization after >3 months post-stroke were paralleled by the normalization of increased low-frequency coupling and a reinstatement of the complex network structure featuring a modular and small-world topology.Keywords: diaschisis; modularity; neuroplasticity; randomness; small-worldness.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%R 10.1093/braincomms/fcaf391
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1050018