Acupuncture on GB34 activates the precentral gyrus and prefrontal cortex in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

BackgroundAcupuncture is increasingly used as an additional treatment for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).MethodsIn this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, brain activation in response to acupuncture in a group of 12 patients with PD was compared with a group of 12 healthy participants. Acupuncture was conducted on a specific acupoint, the right GB 34 (Yanglingquan), which is a frequently used acupoint for motor function treatment in the oriental medical field.ResultsAcupuncture stimulation on this acupoint activates the prefrontal cortex, precentral gyrus, and putamen in patients with PD; areas that are known to be impaired in patients with PD. Compared with healthy participants, patients with PD showed significantly higher brain activity in the prefrontal cortex and precentral gyrus, especially visible in the left hemisphere.ConclusionsThe neuroimaging results of our study suggest that in future acupuncture research; the prefrontal cortex as well as the precentral gyrus should be treated for symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and that GB 34 seems to be a suitable acupoint. Moreover, acupuncture evoked different brain activations in patients with Parkinson’s disease than in healthy participants in our study, stressing the importance of conducting acupuncture studies on both healthy participants as well as patients within the same study, in order to detect acupuncture efficacy.Trial registrationKCT0001122 at cris.nih.go.kr (registration date: 20140530)Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-336) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A functional magnetic resonance imaging study on the effect of acupuncture at GB34 (Yanglingquan) on motor-related network in hemiplegic patients

“…What's more, Jeon et al (2008) suggested that acupuncture at GB34 contributed to dopamine neuron survival in substantianigra by changing the protein expression profiles. Yeo et al, 2014' fMRI study showed that, after acupuncture at GB34, there were significant increased neural responses in caudate, putamen, cingulate gyrus, thalamus, substantia nigra, anterior cingulate, prefrontal gyrus, insula, parahippocampal gyrus, and cerebellum in patient with Parkinson's disease. These researches indicated that GB34 coordinated limb motion function and alleviated spasticity by regulation the release of central neurotransmitter and the expression of protein in extrapyramidal system.…”

Enhanced Functional Connectivity between the Bilateral Primary Motor Cortices after Acupuncture at Yanglingquan (GB34) in Right-Hemispheric Subcortical Stroke Patients: A Resting-State fMRI Study

“…Another study in healthy subjects by Zhang et al (2004) showed that stimulation of GB34 inhibited bilateral M1s, and premotor cortex (PMC) by using task-state fMRI. For patients with Parkinson’s disease, needling at GB34 could activate the precentral gyrus and prefrontal cortex (Yeo et al, 2014). For stroke patients, it had been confirmed that acupuncture played an important role in improving regional cerebral blood flow (Lee et al, 2003).…”

Ipsilateral Putamen and Insula Activation by Both Left and Right GB34 Acupuncture Stimulation: An fMRI Study on Healthy Participants

“…Then, the needle was at rest for 1 minute, followed by 1 minute of bidirectional rotation again, and finally, the needle was not moved for another 1 minute of rest. For sham acupuncture stimulation, a blunt needle was used [29] to generate a somatosensory response by gently contacting the skin at the right GB34 (for the right GB34 group) or at the left GB34 (for the left GB34 group) without needle insertion. All other aspects followed the same paradigm as for the previously described acupuncture condition.…”

“…fMRI studies on healthy participants revealed that acupuncture at GB34 specifically activated the putamen, caudate body, claustrum, thalamus, and cerebellum [26, 27]. However, so far, different neural effects in response to GB34 acupuncture have been found, which can be explained by various factors, such as differences in the ages of the subjects, the kinds of patients [28, 29], the recruitment and intervention, and the sides used for GB34 acupuncture stimulation [26, 27]. …”