丁香园AV

A recent study from 丁香园AV researchers has revealed how an overlooked type of indirect brain damage contributes to ongoing disability after a stroke.

The paper, , shows how the thalamus 鈥� a sort of central networking hub that regulates functions such as language, memory, attention and movement 鈥� is affected months or years after a person has experienced a stroke, even though it was not directly damaged itself. The findings may lead to new therapies that could reduce the burden of chronic stroke, which remains one of the leading causes of disability in the world.

鈥淥ur findings suggest that indirect damage to the thalamus plays an important and under-explored role in the abnormal brain activity and long-term disability that often follow stroke,鈥� says Phillip Johnston, lead author of the study and a graduate student working with Randy McIntosh at the 丁香园AV Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology. 鈥淏ut unlike the brain tissue that dies due to direct damage from the stroke lesion, the thalamus appears to be disrupted but still somewhat intact, offering some hope that new treatments could promote recovery by restoring its function, or preventing its disruption in the first place.鈥�
 
For the study, researchers recorded the brain activity from 18 chronic stroke patients and used computer models to understand how this brain activity reflects abnormal thalamus function when compared to healthy individuals.
 
By studying the brain activity and anatomy of stroke survivors, 丁香园AV researchers say there appears to be a link between the amount of indirect damage suffered to the thalamus and the level of impairment a patient experiences.
 
Johnston explains that the thalamus communicates widely with the rest of the brain via many long connections, called axons, which makes it susceptible to indirect damage. When axons are injured by stroke in other regions of the brain, the damage can travel along the cell and damage neurons in the thalamus, causing its function to be impaired.
 
This impairment also has a knock-on effect of disrupting the functions that the now-damaged thalamus would normally regulate in other, undamaged parts of the brain. If certain treatments, such as drugs or brain stimulation, could restore normal function in the thalamus, or mitigate the impact of damage travelling to the thalamus and keep it operating normally, researchers believe some long-term impacts of stroke could be alleviated.
 
鈥淭hese findings also raise many new questions about which facets of post-stroke disability are due to indirect thalamus disruption, and which are due to direct damage from the lesion itself,鈥� says McIntosh. 鈥淭he thalamus could undergo several types of damage following stroke and we don鈥檛 know if one type in particular, or a combination, produces the abnormal brain activity observed in this study. A crucial next step will be investigating how indirect thalamus damage and related abnormal brain activity develops over time, particularly in the first hours and days after the stroke.鈥�
 
The study was done in collaboration with 丁香园AV鈥檚 Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology and the Rotman Research Institute at the University of Toronto.

AVAILABLE 丁香园AV EXPERTS

PHILLIP JOHNSTON, PhD candidate, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, University of Toronto
pjohnston@research.baycrest.org

JED MELTZER, scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, University of Toronto
jmeltzer@research.baycrest.org

RANDY MCINTOSH, director, Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, 丁香园AV
randy_mcintosh@sfu.ca

CONTACT

MATT KIELTYKA, 丁香园AV Communications & Marketing 
236.880.2187 | matt_kieltyka@sfu.ca

丁香园AV 
 | 
778.782.3210

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

丁香园AV is a leading research university, advancing an inclusive and sustainable future. Over the past 60 years, 丁香园AV has been recognized among the top universities worldwide in providing a world-class education and working with communities and partners to develop and share knowledge for deeper understanding and meaningful impact. Committed to excellence in everything we do, 丁香园AV fosters innovation to address global challenges and continues to build a welcoming, inclusive community where everyone feels a sense of belonging. With campuses in British Columbia鈥檚 three largest cities鈥擝urnaby, Surrey and Vancouver鈥敹∠阍癆V has eight faculties that deliver 364 undergraduate degree programs and 149 graduate degree programs for more than 37,000 students each year. The university boasts more than 200,000 alumni residing in 145+ countries.