Effect of acupuncture and its influence on cerebral activity in patients with persistent asthma: study protocol for a randomized controlled clinical trial

Yu, Siyi; Dong, Xiaoli; Sun, Ruirui; He, Zhaoxuan; Zhang, Chuantao; Chen, Mei; Xia, Hong; Lan, Lei; Zeng, Fang

doi:10.1186/s13063-020-04319-w

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…The sample size calculation of a neuroimaging study is different from that of a classic randomized controlled clinical trial. Power analyses for neuroimaging studies rely on assumptions about BOLD signal amplitude, smoothness, brain location, and other factors that render principled priori designations difficult ( Yu et al, 2020 ). According to a previous neuroimaging study ( Desmond and Glover, 2002 ), a minimum sample size ( n = 20) should be used in order to obtain 80% power with an error threshold of 0.002 at a single-voxel level.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulatory Effects of Acupuncture on Emotional Disorders in Patients With Menstrual Migraine Without Aura: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Neurosci.

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Background: Menstrual migraine without aura (MMoA) refers to a specific type of migraine that is associated with the female ovarian cycle. It is particularly serious and has brought huge life pressure and mental burden to female patients. Acupuncture has been commonly used to prevent migraines and relieve concomitant emotional disorders; however, the physiological mechanism underlying this intervention remains unclear. This study aimed to use resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) to investigate whether acupuncture can modulate brain function and if the potential influence on brain activity correlates with improving emotional symptoms in MMoA patients.Methods: Overall, 44 patients were randomly divided into a true acupuncture (TA) group and the sham acupuncture (SA) group. Patients underwent rsfMRI before and after 3-month treatment, the amplitude of low-frequency fuctuations (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) in rsfMRI were calculated. Zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS), frequency of migraine attacks, visual analog scale, and intensity of the migraine were used for evaluate the clinical effect. The clinical changes of variables were also used to further assess the correlation with brain activity in MMoA patients.Results: After acupuncture treatment, the emotional symptoms of both groups of patients improved, and the clinical symptoms of migraine were alleviated. The major finding of our study was that patients with MMoA showed lower ALFF value in the left anterior cingulate and the value was positively correlated with the decreases in the SAS and SDS scores. In the SA group, common brain regions responded both in ALFF and regional homogeneity values mainly in the insula, and no significant correlations were observed between brain regions and clinical variables.Conclusions: These results indicated that both two acupuncture treatments were helpful in treating migraine and could improve emotion symptoms. TA had a relatively better effect in reducing the frequency of migraine attack than SA. The two therapies have different modulation effects as TA regulates emotional disorders by modulating the frontal-limbic regions, and SA may modulate pain perception through the placebo effect on insula and by indirectly regulating emotional disorders. These findings provided evidence that acupuncture is a complementary and alternative therapy to relieve clinical symptoms in female patients with migraines and could help enhance clinical diagnosis and treatment.Clinical Trial Registration: [http://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx], identifier [ChiCTR-IOR-15006648. Registered 23 June 2015].

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulatory Effects of Acupuncture on Emotional Disorders in Patients With Menstrual Migraine Without Aura: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Neurosci.

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“…Feishu (BL13) and Tiantu (CV22) are frequently chosen as the target acupoints as stimulation of these acupoints can improve pulmonary function and reduce inflammatory infiltration in lung tissues [15] . However, the underlying mechanism of the therapeutic effects of EA in asthma is not well characterized, which has limited its application to a certain extent [16] …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[15] However, the underlying mechanism of the therapeutic effects of EA in asthma is not well characterized, which has limited its application to a certain extent. [16] EA has been shown to suppress inflammation through neural-immune-endocrine interactions. [17][18][19] Studies have demonstrated an increase in the levels of the inhibitory transmitter GABA and expression of GABA receptors after EA treatment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electroacupuncture-induced activation of GABAergic system alleviates airway inflammation in asthma model by suppressing TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway

Gong

Liu

Zhao

2023

Chinese Medical Journal

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Background: Electroacupuncture (EA) has been shown to attenuate airway inflammation in asthmatic mice; however, the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Studies have shown that EA can significantly increase the inhibitory neurotransmitter g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content in mice, and can also increase the expression level of GABA type A receptor (GABAAR). Furthermore, activating GABAAR may relieve inflammation in asthma by suppressing toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/ myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) signaling pathway. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the role of GABAergic system and TLR4/MyD88/NF-kB signaling pathway in asthmatic mice treated with EA. Methods: A mouse model of asthma was established, and a series of methods including Western blot and histological staining assessment were employed to detect the level of GABA, and expressions of GABAAR and TLR4/MyD88/NF-kB in lung tissue. In addition, GABAAR antagonist was used to further validate the role and mechanism of GABAergic system in mediating the therapeutic effect of EA in asthma.Results: The mouse model of asthma was established successfully, and EA was verified to alleviate airway inflammation in asthmatic mice. The release of GABA and the expression of GABAAR were significantly increased in asthmatic mice treated with EA compared with untreated asthmatic mice (P < 0.01), and the TLR4/MyD88/NF-kB signaling pathway was down-regulated. Moreover, inhibition of GABAAR attenuated the beneficial effects of EA in asthma, including the regulation of airway resistance and inflammation, as well as the inhibitory effects on TLR4/MyD88/NF-kB signaling pathway. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that GABAergic system may be involved in mediating the therapeutic effect of EA in asthma, possibly by suppressing the TLR4/MyD88/NF-kB signaling pathway.

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“…35 A sample size of 12-24 individuals per group is a reasonable sample size to obtain brain functional analysis. 36 Therefore, we took 18 samples for each group, considering the dropout rate of 10%, each group included 20 cases, for a total of 100 female AO patients and 20 healthy subjects.…”

Section: Sample Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Brain-Imaging Mechanisms on Female Abdominal Obesity Treated by “Shu-Mu” Acupoint Catgut Embedding and Compatibility Relation: Study Protocol for a 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial

Li¹,

Lü²,

Zhang³

et al. 2023

DMSO

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Background: Acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) has been proven to be effective and safe in the treatment of obesity, but few studies have been conducted involving its central mechanisms. Our previous study has demonstrated the effectiveness of Shu-Mu ACE in the treatment of abdominal obesity (AO). However, the neurological mechanism of Shu-Mu ACE for weight loss has not yet been elucidated. The mechanism of the combination of the Shu and Mu acupoints may be related to the central integrative effects of the brain. This paper aims to explore the potential neural mechanisms of Shu-Mu ACE in female patients with AO. Methods and Analysis: A total of 100 eligible female AO patients and 20 healthy female subjects will be recruited for this study. 100 AO patients will be randomly allocated to five groups: Shu-Mu ACE (Group A), Shu ACE (Group B), Mu ACE (Group C), sham ACE (Group D), and waiting-list (Group E). Treatment will be administrated once every two weeks for 12 weeks. The body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), Visual Analog Scales (VAS) of appetite, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) will be utilized to evaluate the clinical efficacy. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline and at each time point of treatment. Multimodal MRI will be performed at baseline and after 12-week treatment and the results will be used to investigate the neural mechanisms of ACE for obesity. Neurological changes and clinical data will be analysed for correlation. Discussions: This study hypothesized that Shu-Mu ACE therapy has a synergistic effect and may treat AO by modulating the neuropathological alterations in the brain. Our findings will demonstrate the neurological mechanism of AO treated by "Shu-Mu" Acupoint Catgut Embedding and compatibility relation. Trial Registration: This trial is registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registration Center (No. ChiCTR2100048920).

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Effect of acupuncture and its influence on cerebral activity in patients with persistent asthma: study protocol for a randomized controlled clinical trial

Cited by 5 publications

References 49 publications

Regulatory Effects of Acupuncture on Emotional Disorders in Patients With Menstrual Migraine Without Aura: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Regulatory Effects of Acupuncture on Emotional Disorders in Patients With Menstrual Migraine Without Aura: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Electroacupuncture-induced activation of GABAergic system alleviates airway inflammation in asthma model by suppressing TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway

Brain-Imaging Mechanisms on Female Abdominal Obesity Treated by “Shu-Mu” Acupoint Catgut Embedding and Compatibility Relation: Study Protocol for a 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial

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