Acupuncture Induces Time‐Dependent Remodelling Brain Network on the Stable Somatosensory First‐Ever Stroke Patients: Combining Diffusion Tensor and Functional MR Imaging

Abstract

Different treatment interventions induce distinct remodelling of network architecture of entire motor system. Acupuncture has been proved to be of a promising efficacy in motor recovery. However, it is still unclear whether the reorganization of motor-related brain network underlying acupuncture is related with time since stroke and severity of deficit at baseline. The aim of study was to characterize the relation between motor-related brain organization following acupuncture and white matter microstructural changes at an interval of two weeks. We demonstrated that acupuncture induced differential reorganization of motor-related network for stroke patients as time-lapse since stroke. At the baseline, acupuncture can induce the increased functional connectivity between the left primary motor cortex (M1) and the right M1, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area (SMA), thalamus, and cerebellum. After two-week recovery, the increased functional connectivity of the left M1 was more widely distributed and primarily located in the insula, cerebellum, basal ganglia, and SMA. Furthermore, a significant negative relation existed between the FA value in the left M1 at the baseline scanning and node centrality of this region following acupuncture for both baseline and two-week recovery. Our findings may shed a new insight on understanding the reorganization of motor-related theory underlying motor impairments after brain lesions in stroke patients.

Electroacupuncture Promotes Remyelination after Cuprizone Treatment by Enhancing Myelin Debris Clearance

“…Compelling evidence demonstrates that acupuncture is beneficial in preventing neuronal injury in various pathological conditions, such as stroke, cerebral palsy, depression, etc (Han and Ho, 2011; Kwon et al, 2012; Xu et al, 2013; Bai et al, 2014; MacPherson et al, 2014; Yang et al, 2014). Clinical reports have yielded promising evidence of acupuncture ameliorating symptoms of MS patients, such as fatigue, bladder dysfunction, spasticity, and eventually improving quality of life (Tjon et al, 2009; Kopsky and Hesselink, 2012; Quispe-Cabanillas et al, 2012; Foroughipour et al, 2013).…”

The Status of the Quality Control in Acupuncture‐Neuroimaging Studies

“…The investigators in Korea (16 studies) [7, 47, 49, 52, 55, 82, 85, 98, 102, 109, 112, 114, 116, 117, 122, 153], Taiwan (6 studies) [79, 110, 128, 170, 171, 175], Austria (6 studies) [132, 139, 150, 160, 168, 176], Germany (5 studies) [32, 50, 157, 167, 169], Australia (4 studies) [40, 41, 92, 121], Japan (4 studies) [39, 108, 149, 173], UK (4 studies) [17, 67, 81, 103], Italy (2 studies) [25, 172], and Denmark (1 study) [143] also published articles on acupuncture-neuroimaging (Figure 1). 60 studies [16, 19, 23, 25, 26, 37, 38, 42, 45, 46, 55, 56, 60, 62, 65, 67, 70–72, 75, 78, 81, 87, 88, 90, 93, 97, 100, 101, 104, 106, 107, 110, 111, 113–115, 117–121, 123, 126–129, 132, 134…”

“…25 kinds of diseases were involved in these studies (Table 1). 19 studies [10, 14, 18, 19, 29, 34, 35, 40, 46, 51, 52, 59, 62, 65, 77, 84, 112, 134, 146] classified the subtypes of diseases.…”

“…100 studies [7, 10, 16–19, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 34, 35, 39–42, 44–48, 51–54, 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 69–74, 76, 77, 80–82, 84, 85, 87, 89, 92, 97, 98, 101–103, 105, 107–109, 112, 114, 116, 117, 120–122, 124, 125, 129, 131–135, 137, 139, 141–145, 148–153, 157, 158, 160, 162, 164, 166–168, 171–176] described the age range of participants. For the healthy subjects, the average age range was 18.3 years old, and the maximal age range was 62, while the minimal age range was 3.…”

“…The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) [92] and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) [93] were used in 1 study, respectively. Nine studies [19–22, 24, 65, 76, 92, 146] have excluded the participants with claustrophobia.…”