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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1481474
This article is part of the Research Topic Rehabilitation Interventions for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury View all 4 articles

Translingual neural stimulation induced changes in intra-and inter-network functional connectivity in mild-moderate traumatic brain injury patients

Provisionally accepted
Daniel Y. Chu Daniel Y. Chu 1Jiancheng Hou Jiancheng Hou 1,2Veena A Nair Veena A Nair 1Nagesh Adluru Nagesh Adluru 1Yuri Danilov Yuri Danilov 1Kurt Kaczmarek Kurt Kaczmarek 1Beth Meyerand Beth Meyerand 1Mitchell Tyler Mitchell Tyler 1Vivek Prabhakaran Vivek Prabhakaran 1*
  • 1 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
  • 2 Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (mmTBI) that lead to deficits in balance and gait are difficult to resolve through standard therapy protocols, and these deficits can severely impact a patient’s quality of life. Recently, translingual neural stimulation (TLNS) has emerged as a potential therapy for mmTBI-related balance and gait deficits by inducing neuroplastic changes in the brain gray matter structure. However, it is still unclear how interactions within and between functional networks in brain are affected by TLNS. The current study aimed to extend our previous resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) study investigating the effects of TLNS intervention on outcome measures related to gait and balance. Nine patients with mmTBI participated in TLNS intervention sessions combined with physical therapy, and their performance was evaluated using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) as well as the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI). Compared to baseline, TLNS intervention led to statistically significant improvements in both the SOT (t (8) = 2.742, p = .028) and the DGI (t (8) = 2.855, p = .024) scores. Moreover, significant increases in intra- and inter-network RSFC were observed, particularly within the visual, default mode, dorsal attention, frontoparietal (FPN), and somatosensory (SMN) networks. Additionally, there were significant correlations between the SOT and inter-network FC (between FPN and SMN, r (9) = -0.784, p = .012) and between the DGI and intra-network FC (within SMN, r (9) = 0.728, p = .026). These findings suggest that TLNS may be an effective approach to inducing brain network plasticity and may serve as a potential therapy for mmTBI-related gait and balance deficits.

    Keywords: traumatic brain injuries, translingual neural stimulation, network functional connectivity, Sensory Organization Test, Dynamic gait index

    Received: 16 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Chu, Hou, Nair, Adluru, Danilov, Kaczmarek, Meyerand, Tyler and Prabhakaran. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Vivek Prabhakaran, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, 53715-1149, Wisconsin, United States

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