{
  "id": 3160638,
  "title": "White-matter disconnection shapes distributed cortical spectral dynamics after stroke",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/white-matter-disconnection-shapes-distributed-cortical-spectral",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-24T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.20.745699v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Post-stroke slow-wave activity spreads to structurally intact brain regions through altered neural connections, according to a study examining the impact of focal brain lesions on distributed cortical dynamics. Researchers analyzed high-density EEG data from 49 acute stroke patients and 20 healthy controls, classifying cortical areas as perilesional, structurally disconnected, or non-disconnected using individual lesion masks aligned with normative white-matter atlases. Perilesional cortex displayed heightened delta and theta power, alongside diminished beta activity compared to controls. Importantly, regions structurally disconnected from the lesion showed similar electrophysiological changes, including amplified low-frequency activity and steeper aperiodic spectral slopes. These alterations correlated with the severity of neurological dysfunction and overall behavioral impairment. The findings reveal that post-stroke slow-wave activity propagates along structural disconnection pathways, offering concrete electrophysiological evidence for connectional diaschisis - the concept that disrupted neural connections can influence distant brain regions. Furthermore, the research identifies distributed network targets for physiology-guided neuromodulation therapies, suggesting potential strategies to harness the propagation of slow-wave activity for stroke recovery.",
  "summary": "Focal brain lesions are thought to induce sleep-like slow-wave activity in perilesional cortex through altered excitation-inhibition balance and structural disconnection, but whether these dynamics extend to remote yet structurally intact regions remain unclear. Here we combined source-reconstructed high-density EEG (128 channels) with structural disconnection mapping in 49 acute stroke patients…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}