The Modulation of Reward and Habit Systems by Acupuncture in Adolescents with Internet Addiction

Abstract

Purpose. Acupuncture is an effective therapy for Internet addiction (IA). However, the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture in relieving compulsive Internet use remain unknown. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the role of the ventral striatum (VS) in the progress of IA; hence, the aim of this study was to explore the effects of acupuncture on the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and relevant network of VS in IA. Methods. Twenty-seven IA individuals and 30 demographically matched healthy control subjects (HCs) were recruited in this study. We acquired the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data in IA subjects before and after 40 days of acupuncture treatment. Seed-to-voxel and ROI-to-ROI analyses were applied to detect the rsFC alterations of the VS and related network in IA subjects and to investigate the modulation effect of acupuncture on the rsFC. Results. Compared with HCs, IA subjects exhibited enhanced rsFC of the right ventral rostral putamen (VRP) with the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), premotor cortex (PMC), cerebellum, and right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). In the network including these five ROIs, IA also showed increased ROI-to-ROI rsFC. Using a paired t-test in IA subjects before and after 40 days of acupuncture, the increased ROI-to-ROI rsFC was decreased (normalized to HC) with acupuncture, including the rsFC of the right VRP with the left OFC, PMC, and cerebellum, and the rsFC of the left cerebellum with the left OFC, PMC, and right vmPFC. Furthermore, the change in rsFC strength between the right VRP and left cerebellum in IA individuals was found positively correlated with the Internet craving alleviation after acupuncture. Conclusions. These findings verified the modulation effect of acupuncture on functional connectivity of reward and habit systems related to the VS in IA individuals, which might partly represent the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture on IA.

The modulation of mRNA levels of MAOA by electroacupuncture and psychotherapy in patients with pathological internet use

“…Previous studies have confirmed that acupuncture has a regulatory effect on the structure and function of brain regions in substance addicts ( 17 , 18 ). Similarly, our previous findings suggest that acupuncture on PIU individuals can regulate functional connectivity of reward and habit systems ( 19 ), and this result is related to the current research results of Internet addiction ( 20 ). In a review study, Weinstein and Lejoyyeux ( 21 ) reported that Internet addiction is associated with the brain regions associated with reward and cognitive control network.…”

Identifying Internet Addiction and Evaluating the Efficacy of Treatment Based on Functional Connectivity Density: A Machine Learning Study

“…The impulsive habit system in the tripartite neurocognitive model is responsible for fast, automatic, unconscious, and habitual behaviors (Wei et al, 2017). In the current study, the hyperfunction of the right PMC and bilateral cerebellum in individuals with IA, which were thought to contribute to the habitual or compulsive use of the internet, was detected and further found to contribute to IA identification and the evaluation of CBT efficacy (Wang et al, 2020a).…”

“…In IA studies, increased activations in the cerebellum were also found in individuals with IA when exposed to internet cues, implicating automatic habitual reactions to internet (Schmitgen et al, 2020). Furthermore, the hyperactivity of the PMC-cerebellar loop was found both in IA and substance addiction (Yalachkov et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2020a), suggesting the common pathological changes in the habit system in IA and substance dependence.…”

“…The participants were instructed to keep their eyes closed and remain awake with nothing in mind during the whole scanning term. A standard echo planar imaging sequence was adopted to collect functional images, with the following parameters in our prior study (Wang et al, 2020a): repetition time = 2000 ms, echo time = 30 ms, flip angle = 90 • , field of view = 24 cm × 24 cm, image matrix = 64 × 64, no gap, and voxel size = 3.75 mm × 3.75 mm × 4.4 mm. For this scan sequence, 255 volumes were obtained, and each volume included thirty-five transverse slices.…”

Acupuncture Mechanism Studies Employing Task-based fMRI: A Scoping Review Protocol

“…A number of studies have con rmed the central nervous system (CNS) plays a primary role in acupuncture effect [8][9][10] . Similar to other studies on brain function, neuroimaging technologies have been extensively employed into this area, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) [11,12] , Positron Emission Tomography (PET) [13] , electroencephalography (EEG) [14] , and magnetoencephalography (MEG) [15] . A study has shown that fMRI and PET/PET-CT are the two most commonly used methods [16] .…”