Altered Dynamic Resting State Functional Connectivity Associated With Somatosensory Impairments in the Upper Limb in the Early Sub-Acute Phase Post-Stroke

Background. Altered dynamic functional connectivity has been associated with motor impairments in the acute phase post-stroke. Its association with somatosensory impairments in the early sub-acute phase remains unexplored. Objective. To investigate altered dynamic functional connectivity associated with somatosensory impairments in the early sub-acute phase post-stroke. Methods. We collected resting state magnetic resonance imaging and clinical somatosensory function of the upper limb of 20 subacute stroke patients and 16 healthy controls (HC). A sliding-window approach was used to identify 3 connectivity states based on the estimated dynamic functional connectivity of sensorimotor related networks. Network components were subdivided into 3 domains: cortical and subcortical sensorimotor, as well as cognitive control network. Between-group differences were investigated using independent t-tests and Mann-Whitney-U tests. Analyzes were performed with correction for age, head motion and time post-stroke and corrected for multiple comparisons. Results. Stroke patients spent significantly less time in a weakly connected network state (state 3; dwell time: p(state3) = 0.003, mean(stroke) = 53.02, SDstroke = 53.13; mean(HC) = 118.92, SDHC = 72.84), and stayed shorter but more time intervals in a highly connected intra-domain network state (state 1; fraction time: p(state 1) < 0.001, mean(stroke) = 0.46, SDstroke = 0.26; mean(HC) = 0.26, SDHC = 0.21) compared to HC. After 8 weeks of therapy, improvements in wrist proprioception were moderately associated with decreases in dwell and fraction times toward a more normalized pattern. Conclusion. Changes in temporal properties of large-scale network interactions are present in the early rehabilitation phase post-stroke and could indicate enhanced neural plasticity. These findings could augment the understanding of cerebral reorganization after loss of neural tissue specialized in somatosensory functions.