Neural activities in human somatosensory cortical areas evoked by acupuncture stimulation.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate neural representation evoked by acupuncture from human somatosensory cortices, especially from primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory areas.


METHODS
Neuroimaging study - Blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI was performed during acupuncture on LI4 (n=12 healthy participants). Sham acupuncture and innocuous tactile stimulation were also applied on the same acupuncture site as control comparisons.


METHODS
Responsive neural substrates were visualized and identified based on both individual and group-level surface activation maps.


RESULTS
Discrete regions within the precentral gyrus (area 4) and the fundus of the central sulcus (area 3a) were selectively activated during the real acupuncture stimulation. In SII, the activation was extended in a postero-inferior direction to the fundus of the lateral sulcus.


CONCLUSIONS
This specific pattern of acupuncture-related activation indicates that deep tissue stimulation (as seen in area 3a activation) and concurrent processing of sensory stimulation (as seen in activation in SII) may mediate neural responses to manual acupuncture.
Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States. yoo@bwh.harvard.edu
Seung-Schik
SS
Yoo
Catherine E
CE
Kerr
Min
M
Park
Dong-Mi
DM
Im
Russell A
RA
Blinder
Hyunwook
H
Park
Ted J
TJ
Kaptchuk
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000328:Adult; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*