The impact of lesions in different nuclei of the basal ganglia on speech processing function in patients with post-stroke dysarthria
10.3760/cma.j.cn371468-20241225-00618
- VernacularTitle:基底节不同核团损伤对卒中后构音障碍患者言语处理功能的影响
- Author:
Juan LIU
1
;
Shuzhi ZHAO
;
Rongfeng SU
;
Shaofeng ZHAO
;
Yumei ZHANG
;
Lan WANG
;
Nan YAN
Author Information
1. 中国科学院深圳先进技术研究院粤港澳人机智能协同系统联合实验室，深圳 518055
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Stroke;
Dysarthria;
Speech processing function;
Basal ganglia;
Neuroimaging-behavioral analysis
- From:
Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Brain Science
2025;34(6):517-524
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To investigate the impact of lesions in different nuclei of the subcortical basal ganglia on speech processing functions in patients with post-stroke dysarthria.Methods:From July 2022 to September 2023, a total of 20 patients with post-stroke dysarthria (patient group) and 22 healthy individuals (control group) were recruited. Brain imaging data, including structural magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), as well as behavioral data of speech fluency task and picture association task were collected. Structural MRI data was analyzed using SPM12 software to perform voxel-based morphometry (VBM), measuring cortical thickness and gray matter volume (VGM) in specific nuclei of the basal ganglia. Behavioral metrics, such as reaction time (RT) and the number of valid responses were extracted for each task. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 27.0 and R 4.0 softwares. Spearman correlation analysis was applied to examine relationships between neuroimaging parameters and behavioral performance indicators.Results:The patient group exhibited significantly smaller gray matter volumes in both left and right caudate nuclei((2.69±0.92)mm 3, (3.17±0.91)mm 3 ) and putamen (3.31±1.08)mm 3, (3.66±0.91)mm 3) compared to the control group (caudate nuclei (3.19±0.36)mm 3, (3.49±0.52)mm 3 putamen (4.52±0.54)mm 3, (4.72±0.64)mm 3), with statistically significant differences ( t=-2.83, 1.68; t=-3.59, 3.52, both P<0.05). Behavioral experiments revealed that the patient group exhibited significantly prolonged reaction time during picture association and naming tasks (1 910.50(1 214.25, 3 806.75) ms, 1 362.00(978.00, 2 297.00) ms) compared to the control group (1 618.00(1 162.75, 2 401.75) ms, 1 224.00(984.25, 1 661.50) ms; Z=-5.20, -4.61, both P<0.05). Gray matter volumes in the left caudate nucleus and left putamen exhibited negative correlations with reaction times during the picture naming task ( r=-0.52, -0.54, both P<0.05). Additionally, the gray matter volume of the left putamen demonstrated a positive correlation with the number of valid responses in speech fluency task-T2 ( r=0.46, P<0.05), whereas the left globus pallidus volume showed a negative correlation with speech fluency task-T1 ( r=-0.51, P<0.05) with the same measure. Conclusion:Lesions in the left subnuclei of the basal ganglia directly impair early-stage speech functions, including conceptual preparation and lexical selection, whereas right-side lesions exert less pronounced effects on linguistic performance compared to their left counterparts. Furthermore, the basal ganglia's involvement in higher-order linguistic processing may represent an indirect consequence of cognitive decline.
