An fMRI study of somatosensory‐implicated acupuncture points in stable somatosensory stroke patients

Abstract

Purpose: To assess differences in brain responses between stroke patients and controls to tactile and electrical acupuncture stimulation using functional MRI (fMRI). Materials and Methods:A total of 12 male, clinically stable stroke patients with left side somatosensory deficits, and 12 age-matched male control subjects were studied. fMRI was performed with two different paradigms; namely, tactile stimuli and electrical stimulation at acupuncture points LI4 and LI11 on the affected side of the body. fMRI data were analyzed using SPM99.Results: Tactile stimulation in both patients and controls produced significant activation in primary and secondary sensory and motor cortical areas and cerebellum. Greater activation was present in patients than controls in the somatosensory cortex with both the tactile task and the acupuncture point (acupoint) stimulation. Activation was greater during the tactile task than the acupuncture stimulation in patients and normal controls. Conclusion:Differences observed between patients and controls on both tasks may indicate compensatory over recruitment of neocortical areas involved in somatosensory perception in the stroke patients. The observed differences between patients and controls on the acupoint stimulation task may also indicate that stimulation of acupoints used therapeutically to enhance recovery from stroke, selectively activates areas thought to be involved in mediating recovery from stroke via functional plasticity. fMRI of acupoint stimulation may illustrate the functional substrate of the therapeutically beneficial effect of acupuncture in stroke rehabilitation.

Characterizing acupuncture stimuli using brain imaging with fMRI – a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature

“…Five Chinese studies [61±65] found almost no significant differences between verum and sham, though two of them found greater activation intensity in the cerebellum or parietal lobe for verum acupuncture [61,62]. Among the three publications on patients, Schockert et al [20] found more activation in the motor area on stroke patients during acupuncture while Li et al [17] found more activation in the somatosensory and motor areas with a control, brushing stimulation on stroke patients. In patients with Parkinson's disease Chae et al [18] showed that acupuncture was associated with more activation than covert cutaneous stimulation in the motor area, basal ganglia, visual and higher cognitive area; and more activation in the motor, visual, higher cognitive areas and limbic system, compared to overt cutaneous stimulation.…”

The brain effects of laser acupuncture in depressed individuals: an fMRI investigation

“…Needle studies describe consistently the involvement of the sensory cortex. 13,40,41,[52][53][54] As the lowintensity laser has non-nociceptive properties, activation of the primary somatosensory cortex was not recorded for all acupoints except LR 8, which was stimulatory of primary sensory and motor cortices. The significance of this is not known.…”

“…Due to an increase in its popularity, there has been a recent diversification of acupuncture research away from the more traditional study of pain 3 into the examination of the role of acupuncture in mental disorders. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] The first foray into the use of acupuncture in the treatment of depression was the investigatory work on electroacupuncture. 6,7 These earlier studies were followed by clinical studies from 1998 when the use of manual needle acupuncture in depression was revisited.…”

A Case Report of Drug-Induced Parkinsonism Treated with Jodeung-san and Electro-acupuncture at GB34

“…To measure the effects of acupuncture with fMRI, studies have been conducted on healthy participants [12][13][14][15], indicating that each acupoint has its own specific effect, and on patients with diseases, showing that acupuncture is able to improve the symptoms of patients [16][17][18]. However, to our knowledge, there has so far been no fMRI study that directly measures and compares brain activity in response to acupuncture stimulating manipulation in healthy participants to those of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).…”