Willem M.
Otte1,2, Rick M. Dijkhuizen2, Peter C. van Rijen1,
Peter H. Gosselaar1, Maurits P.A. van Meer1,2, Onno van
Nieuwenhuizen1, Kees P.J. Braun1
1Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience,
University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Image
Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Hemispherectomy is a last resort treatment for
catastrophic hemispheric epilepsy. The remarkable motor recovery after
hemispherectomy reflects the plastic capacities of the brain. We studied the
remaining brain in hemispherectomized rats, 7 and 49 days post surgery using
resting-state fMRI, graph analysis and interregional connectivity. The
sensorimotor cortex and striatum in the healthy contralesional hemisphere
exhibited significantly increased functional connectivity after surgery. The
graph analysis results assume a shift toward a more regular network
organization. We have shown that rs-fMRI, connectivity analyses and specific
network measures can provide unique insights into functional reorganization
in the remaining brain after experimental hemispherectomy.