Brain Oscillatory Modes as a Proxy of Stroke Recovery
BackgroundStroke is the leading cause of long-term disability, making the search for successful rehabilitation treatment one of the most important public health issues. A better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying impairment and recovery is critical for optimizing treatments. Objective: We studied the longitudinal changes in brain oscillatory modes, linked to GABAergic system activity, and determined their importance for residual upper-limb motor functions and recovery.MethodsTranscranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was combined with scalp Electroencephalography (EEG) to analyze TMS-induced brain oscillations in a cohort of 66 stroke patients in the acute (N = 60), early (N = 48), and late subacute stages (N = 37).ResultsA data-driven parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) approach to tensor decomposition extracted brain oscillatory modes, which significantly evolved longitudinally across stroke stages (permutation tests, p<sub>Bonf</sub> < 0.05). Notably, the observed decrease of the α-mode, known to be linked with GABAergic system activity, was mainly driven by the recovering patients and was supportive of stroke recovery at the group level (Bayesian Kendall correlation, moderate to strong statistical evidence).ConclusionsOverall, longitudinal evaluation of brain modes provides novel insights into functional reorganization of brain networks after a stroke. Notably, we propose that the observed α-mode decrease could correspond to a beneficial disinhibition toward the late subacute stage that fosters plasticity and facilitates recovery. These results confirm the relevance of future individual and direct monitoring of post-stroke modulations in inhibitory system activity, with the ultimate goal of designing electrophysiological biomarkers and refining therapies based on personalized neuromodulation.
Authors
- Jean-Luc Turlan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0654-620X)
- Dimitri Van De Ville (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2879-3861)
- Nathalie H. Meyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8969-7761)
- Elena Beanato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4451-1684)
- Martino Ceroni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9470-1849)
- Giorgia G. Evangelista (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8317-393X)
- Christophe Constantin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1849-2659)
- Julia Brügger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4675-2502)
- Maximilian J. Wessel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4172-9952)
- Philipp Koch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8795-758X)
- Vincent Alvarez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2489-4577)
- Pauline Menoud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5727-9560)
- Jan Adolphsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5702-1708)
- Sylvain Harquel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8756-2230)
- Christophe Bonvin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9058-8105)
- Philip Egger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0823-3266)
- Takuya Morishita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4932-3275)
- Andreas Mühl
- Andéol Cadic‐Melchior (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9899-299X)
- Bertrand Léger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2782-1442)
- Friedhelm C. Hummel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4746-4633)
- Silvestro Micera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4396-8217)
- Caroline Jagella
- Lisa Fleury (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1277-7197)
- Olaf Blanke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9745-3983)
- Philippe Vuadens
Institutions
- University of Geneva (CH)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (IT)
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- Klinikum Hanau (DE)
- Berner Augenklinik am Lindenhofspital (CH)
- University Hospital of Geneva (CH)
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod (FR)
- Centre d'Imagerie BioMedicale (CH)
- Yebio Bioengineering (China) (CN)
- Hôpital du Valais (CH)
- Clinique Romande de Réadaptation (CH)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
- University of Lübeck (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Neurorehabilitation and neural repair
- Published
- 2025-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/15459683251363241
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.43
Funders
- Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung