Dynamic Alterations of Spontaneous Neural Activity and Its Association with Neurocognitive Function in Sport-related Concussion

Sports-related concussion (SRC) is a complex and heterogeneous injury with psychological, cognitive, and functional consequences. Cognitive impairment is common following SRC, but the neural basis is unclear. In this study, the regional homogeneity (ReHo) and dynamic ReHo (d-ReHo) were obtained from rs-fMRI of both 31 SRC athletes and 7 non-SRC (NSRC) athletes. We found increased ReHo and d-ReHo in the SRC group, and the changes of d-ReHo in the right precuneus correlated with cognitive function. Our findings suggested that altered dynamics in the intrinsic brain activity might be a potential biomarker for explaining the cognitive function decline of SRC.