The underlying mechanisms of bilateral cerebral remodeling and acupuncture for rehabilitation after post-stroke hemiplegia: study protocol for a cross-sectional multimodal fMRI trial

Abstract Background Acupuncture plays a positive role in promoting the rehabilitation of post-stroke hemiplegia, but its specific central effect mechanism remains unclear. The changes of cerebral integrity, bilateral regulation and coordination are closer to the actual running state of brain after injury, while the research on bilateral cerebral reconstruction after unilateral motor pathway injury is not sufficient. The study of cerebral functional remodeling after stroke and mechanisms of acupuncture for post-stroke hemiplegia still faces many challenges. This study will explore the the underlying mechanisms of bilateral cerebral remodeling and acupuncture for post-stroke hemiplegia rehabilitation. Methods This is a single-center, cross-sectional, multimodal functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) study, with participants and data analyst blinded. 24 post-stroke patients with motor dysfunction and 24 healthy subjects that meet the inclusion criteria will be recruited in this study. All the patients enrolled in this study will receive the conventional standard medical care according to their chief doctors. Clinical data including motor function scales, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP), other related scales as well as fMRI imaging data will be collected at baseline and 2 weeks later. Functional connectivity(FC) is the primary and core outcome indicator of this study. Voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC), fractional anisotropy (FA),voxel-based morphometry (VBM), Fugl-Meyer Assessment(FMA) and hs-CRP are secondary outcome indicators. During the MRI scan, true or sham Yanglingquan(GB34) acupuncture stimulation on the left side and passive finger movement will be performed on the participants. The connection between cerebral imaging indicators and clinical indicators will be obtained by calculating the Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Discussion The results of our study will help to understand the cerebral remodeling mechanism of motor function improvement after stroke better and provide data support for the better application of acupuncture in clinical practice. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900022220). Regisered on 30 March 2019. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=37359