Genetic and MRI Biomarkers of Neuroplasticity Predict Aphasia Recovery and Phenotypes
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Summary
Patients with stroke frequently suffer from aphasia, a disorder of expressive and/or receptive language, that can lead to serious health consequences, including social isolation, depression, reduced quality of life, and increased caregiver burden. Aphasia recovery varies greatly between individuals, and likely relies upon the capacity for neuroplasticity, both at a systems level of reorganized brain networks and a molecular level of neuronal repair and plasticity. The proposed work will evaluate genetic and neural network biological markers of neuroplasticity associated with variability in aphasia, with a future goal to improve prognostics and identify therapeutic targets to reduce the long-term burdens of aphasia.
Description
Aphasia is an acquired neurologic language disorder that is among the most challenging long-term disabilities for stroke survivors, often leading to social isolation and reduced quality of life. Recovery from aphasia relies on plasticity in residual brain networks. However, neuroplasticity varies substantially across individuals, making the presence, severity, and phenotype of language impairments challenging to predict. A vital step toward post-stroke precision medicine is identifying neuroplasticity-related biological markers that can improve prognostic models and targeted neurorehabilitatio…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 40–90 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Ages 40-90 2. Right-handed (prior to stroke) 3. Proficient English speakers 4. History of a single ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery territory that is lateralized to the left or right (Aim 1) cerebral hemisphere. 5. Presence of aphasia (Aims 2-3) 6. Capacity to understand the nature of the study and provide informed consent 7. Acute or subacute stroke at the time of Aim 1 enrollment; Stroke #12 months old (chronic) at the time of Aims 2-3 enrollment 8. Medically stable Exclusion Criteria: 1. History of significant medical or neurological disorder (other th…
Interventions
- BehavioralPseudoword learning paradigm task
Pseudoword learning is an experimental learning task by which participants view two novel objects (a target and a foil) and simultaneously hear an audio recording of the pseudoword name of one of the two objects. Participants must choose (via mouse click) which object corresponds to the word presented, immediately after which feedback is provided.
Location
- UW School of Medicine and Public HealthMadison, Wisconsin