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CLINICAL TRIAL article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Applied Neuroimaging
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1465467
This article is part of the Research Topic Evaluation of Fitness in Stroke Survivors View all 6 articles

A Resting-State fMRI Cross-Sectional Study of Cardiorespiratory Fitness Decline After Stroke

Provisionally accepted
Qingming Qu Qingming Qu 1Kexu Zhang Kexu Zhang 2Hewei Wang Hewei Wang 3,4Jie Zhu Jie Zhu 3,4Yingnan Lin Yingnan Lin 5Jie Jia Jie Jia 3,4,6*
  • 1 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Shandong Jiaotong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
  • 3 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
  • 4 National Center for Neurological Disorders, Shanghai, China
  • 5 Department of General Medicine, Huashan Hospital, shanghai, China
  • 6 National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

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

    Objective: The present study aimed to investigate alterations in neural activity and reorganization of functional networks within critical brain regions associated with reduced cardiorespiratory fitnessin stroke patients. By employing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we sought to identify specific brain areas that may be implicated in CRF decline among this patient population. Methods: A total of 22 patients with stroke and 15 healthy subjects matched for age, gender, and body mass index were recruited. Rehabilitation assessments included peak oxygen uptake, peak work-rate, 10-meter walk test, five times sit-to-stand test and 6-minute walking distance. Resting-state fMRI data were collected for the two groups, and correlation between changes in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and CRF was analyzed to detect brain regions related to CRF and local neural activity in patients with stroke. On the basis of ALFF analysis, brain network analysis was performed, and the CRFrelated brain regions in patients with stroke were selected as seed points. Functional connectivity (FC) analysis was the used to identify brain regions and networks potentially associated with CRF in patients with stroke. Results: Patients with stroke exhibited significantly lower VO2peak, peak work-rate, 10mWT, and 6MWD compared to healthy controls (P < 0.001). FTSST was significantly higher in patients with stroke than healthy controls (P < 0.001). ALFF analysis identified CRF-related brain regions in patients with stroke, including the ipsilesional superior temporal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and precentral gyrus. FC analysis revealed that the functional connectivity of brain regions related to CRF in patients with stroke involved the ipsilesional M1 to ipsilesional precentral gyrus and contralesional postcentral gyrus, and the correlation coefficients were r = 0.54802 and r = 0.49511, respectively. The correlation coefficients of ipsilesional middle frontal gyrus to contralesional middle frontal gyrus, angular gyrus and ipsilesional superior frontal gyrus were r = 0.58617, r = 0.57735, and r = -0.65229, respectively. Conclusion: This study observed that CRF levels were lower in stroke patients compared to those in healthy individuals. Resting fMRI analysis was applied to identify CRF-related brain regions (ipsilesional superior temporal, middle frontal, precentral gyri) and networks in patients with stroke.

    Keywords: cardiorespiratory fitness, Resting-state fMRI, Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, functional connectivity, brain network

    Received: 31 Jul 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Qu, Zhang, Wang, Zhu, Lin and Jia. 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: Jie Jia, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

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