Different Brain Activation after Acupuncture at Combined Acupoints and Single Acupoint in Hypertension Patients: An Rs-fMRI Study Based on ReHo Analysis

Abstract

Background Acupuncture is proved to be effective on hypertension by numerous studies and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI) is a widely used technique to study its mechanism. Along with lower blood pressure, patients with hypertension receiving acupuncture also presented improvement in function of cognition, emotion, language, sematic sensation, and so on. This study was a primary study to explore the acting path of acupuncture at combined acupoints in stimulated brain areas related to such functions. Methods In this research, regional homogeneity (ReHo) was applied to analyze the Rs-fMRI image data of brain activities after acupuncture at LR3, KI3, and LR3+KI3 and to compare the differences of functional brain activities between stimulating combined acupoints and single acupoint under pathological conditions. A total of thirty hypertension patients underwent Rs-fMRI scanning before acupuncture treatment and then were randomly divided into three groups following random number table, the LR3 group (3 males and 7 females), the KI3 group (3 males and 7 females), and the LR3+ KI3 group (4 males and 6 females) for needling, respectively. When the 30-min treatment finished, they received a further Rs-fMRI scanning. The Rs-fMRI data before and after the acupuncture treatment were analyzed through ReHo. Results Compared with preacupuncture, respectively, ReHo values increased in Brodmann areas (BAs) 3, 18, and 40 and decreased in BAs 7 and 31 in LR3+ KI3 group. However, ReHo values only decreased in BA7 of KI3 group while the results showed no significant difference of brain regions in LR3 group between pre- and postacupuncture. Compared with LR3 group, LR3+KI3 group exhibited decreased ReHo values in BAs 7, 9, and 31. Meanwhile, compared with KI3 group, LR3+KI3 group exhibited increased ReHo values in the BAs 2, 18, 30, and 40 and decreased ReHo values in BA13. Conclusion Combined acupoints of LR3 and KI3 could act on wider brain areas than the sum of single acupoints, whose functions include emotional processing, cognition, somatic sensation, spatial orientation, language production, and vision.

An Apriori Algorithm-Based Association Rule Analysis to Identify Acupoint Combinations for Treating Diabetic Gastroparesis

“…Wang et al reported that the combination of multiple acupoints resulted in improved the score of the Pittsburgh sleep quality index and Athens Insomnia Scale via regulation of the activity of the brain area related to sleep experience [ 39 ]. The RCT which enrolled 30 patients with hypertension showed that the combined acupuncture points LR3 and KI3 can activate a wider area of the brain than a single point acupuncture based on the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan [ 41 ]. Gao et al demonstrated that stimulating acupoint combination in slow transit constipation mice showed higher defecation grain number and intestinal propulsion rate compared with a single acupoint [ 42 ].…”

An Association Rule Analysis of Acupressure Effect on Sleep Quality

“…Furthermore, as reported by Zhang et al, the acupoint combination of LR3 and KI3 could generate greater synergistic effects in patients with hypertension than that of a single acupoint (LR3 or KI3). The results of resting-state fMRI revealed that acupuncture from LR3 and KI3 could activate broader brain areas in comparison to the single LR3 or KI3 [44]. In view of the two advantages of acupoint combination, it is important to ascertain the acupoint combination instead of the single acupoint.…”

Changes in resting‐state functional connectivity in nonacute sciatica with acupuncture modulation: A preliminary study

“…We reviewed previous acupuncture treatment for sciatica in MEDLINE (PubMed) since 1970 and selected acupoints that were effective for treatment (Liu & Chen, 2017). We chose to use a combined acupoint treatment strategy, considering that treatment using acupoint combinations may achieve a synergistic effect in the brain (Zhang et al, 2019(Zhang et al, , 2016 (Qin, Liu, Liu, Wu, Zhai, & Liu, 2015).…”