Our Research

Functional Brain Reorganization in Stroke Recovery

Principal Investigators

Overall Project Principal Investigator:
Andrew C. Papanicolaou, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

Project Principal Investigators:
Project I: Joshua I. Breier, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
Project II: Andrew C. Papanicolaou, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
Project III: Eduardo Castillo, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

Funding Agency

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Description of the Project

The process of recovery of basic sensory, motor, and higher cognitive and linguistic functions, following stroke, is not well understood. Also poorly understood are the neurophysiologic mechanisms that mediate the effectiveness of therapies, like the Constraint-Induced Therapy (CIT), which are reputed to enhance the recovery process. It has been suggested, however, that, fundamentally, recovery is a result of functional reorganization of the brain. Before the advent of functional neuroimaging, evidence supporting this notion consisted entirely of indirect inferences from clinical or behavioral data. Recently, however, we and others, using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and other functional neuroimaging methods, have begun accumulating direct evidence of brain plasticity and functional reorganization. We plan to investigate systematically the extent and type of reorganization, using MEG-derived brain activation profiles, during spontaneous recovery from stroke.

Project I The purpose of Project 1 is to investigate the mechanisms of reorganization of language-specific cortex during recovery from aphasia following cortical infarction.  MEG activation profiles will be obtained to assess the relation between these profiles and the nature and degree of language recovery.  The extent to which constraint-induced therapies for aphasia modulate mechanisms of reorganization and their relationship to recovery will also be examined in this project.

Project 2 will investigate the cortical activation profiles of motor recovery following hemiparesis in adults who have suffered a unilateral cerebral infarction.  Recovery will be measured behaviorally using tasks involving the upper-extremities (UE).  MEG activation profiles associated with UE movement in the context of constraint-induced therapy will also be examined.

Project 3 is two-fold:  First, the reorganization of the mechanisms of somatosensory function following spontaneous improvement, or improvement associated with constraint-induced therapy, will be assessed with MEG activation profiles.  Second, the reorganization of the cortical mechanisms supporting recovery of attentional function following neglect, in patients with right-hemisphere infarctions will be similarly studied.  Hypotheses regarding interactions between somatosensory and attentional functions, including how MEG activation profiles of somatosensory function may change in the context of attentional deficits, will also be tested. 

Site

The research sites are Memorial Hermann Hospital System, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, TIRR: The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, TMH: The Methodist Hospital, UTHSCH: University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston.

Timeline

We are currently in the 4 year of this 5-year project.

For More Information

Hector M. Garza, B.S., Project Coordinator
University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston
713-797-7586
Hector.Garza@uth.tmc.edu

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