Neural oscillations after acute large artery atherosclerotic cerebral infarction during resting state and sleep spindles

Abstract

SummaryElectroencephalogram‐microstate analysis was conducted using low‐resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA)‐KEY to evaluate dynamic brain network changes in patients with acute large artery atherosclerotic cerebral infarction (LAACI) during the rest and sleep stages. This study included 35 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls and 34 patients with acute LAACI. Each participant performed a 3‐h, 19‐channel video electroencephalogram test. Subsequently, 20 epochs of 2‐s sleep spindles during stage N2 sleep and five epochs of 10‐s electroencephalogram data in the resting state for each participant were obtained. In both the resting state and sleep spindles, patients with LAACI displayed altered neural oscillations. The parameters of microstate A (coverage, occurrence, and duration) increased during the resting state in the patients with LAACI compared with healthy controls. The coverage and occurrence of microstate B and D were reduced in the LAACI group compared with the healthy controls (p < 0.05). Moreover, during sleep spindles, the duration of microstate A and the transition probability from microstate A and B to C decreased, but the coverage of microstate B and the transition rate from microstate B to D increased (p < 0.05) in the LAACI group compared with the healthy controls. These results enable better understanding of how neural oscillations are modified in patients with LAACI during the resting state and sleep spindles. Following LAACI, the dynamic brain network undergoes changes during sleep spindles and the resting state. Continued long‐term investigations are required to determine how well these changes in brain dynamics reflect the clinical characteristics of patients with LAACI.