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Effect of tDCS on corticomuscular coupling and the brain functional network of stroke patients

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Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an emerging brain intervention technique that has gained growing attention in recent years in the rehabilitation area. In this paper, we investigated the efficacy of tDCS in the rehabilitation process of stroke patients, utilizing corticomuscular coupling (CMC) and brain functional network analysis. Specifically, we examined changes in CMC relationships between the treatment and control groups before and after rehabilitation by transfer entropy (TE), and constructed brain functional networks by TE. We further calculated features of the functional networks, including node degree, global efficiency, clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, and small world index. Our results demonstrate that CMC in patients increased significantly after treatment, with greater improvements in the tDCS group, particularly within the beta and gamma bands. In addition, the functional brain network analysis revealed enhanced connectivity between brain regions, improved information processing capacity, and increased transmission efficiency in patients as their condition improved. Notably, treatment with tDCS resulted in more significant improvements than the sham group, with a statistically significant difference observed after rehabilitation treatment (p < 0.05). These findings provide compelling evidence regarding the role of tDCS in the treatment of stroke and highlight the potential of this approach in stroke rehabilitation.

Graphical Abstract

The use of tDCS for therapeutic interventions in stroke rehabilitation can significantly improve the coupling of patients' functional brain networks. Also, using Transfer Entropy (TE) as a characteristic of CMC, tDCS was found to significantly enhance patients' TE, i.e. enhanced CMC.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Zihao Zhuo for assisting us with the experiments and checking the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No.2021ZD0113204), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61971169, 61971168), and the Zhejiang Provincial Key Research and Development Program of China (No.2021C03031).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HDU-ITMO Joint Institute, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    Zhuyao Fan, Xugang Xi & Ting Wang

  2. School of Automation, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    Zhuyao Fan, Xugang Xi, Ting Wang & Lihua Li

  3. Hangzhou Mingzhou Naokang Rehabilitation Hospital, Hangzhou, 311215, China

    Hangcheng Li

  4. Affiliated Dongyang Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Dongyang, 322100, China

    Wang Maofeng & Zhong Lü

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  1. Zhuyao Fan
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  3. Ting Wang
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  5. Wang Maofeng
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  6. Lihua Li
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Contributions

Zhuyao Fan and Xugang Xi wrote the main manuscript text; Zhong Lü, Ting Wang, and Lihua Li reviewed the manuscript; Hangcheng Li and Maofeng Wang conducted an ethical review.

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Correspondence to Xugang Xi.

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All the experimental procedures were approved by the ethics committee of Hangzhou Mingzhou Brain Rehabilitation Hospital.

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Fan, Z., Xi, X., Wang, T. et al. Effect of tDCS on corticomuscular coupling and the brain functional network of stroke patients. Med Biol Eng Comput 61, 3303–3317 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-023-02905-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-023-02905-z

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