title: Acupuncture stimulation of Taichong (Liv3) and Hegu (LI4) modulates the default mode network activity in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The acupuncture has been used in the therapy of Alzheimer disease (AD), however, its neural underpins are still unclear. The aim of this study is to examine the acupuncture effect on the default mode network (DMN) in AD by using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-eight subjects (14 AD and 14 normal controls (NC)) participated in this study. RS-fMRI data were acquired before and after acupuncture, while during the acupuncture, the procession of acupuncture stimulation on the acupoints of Tai chong (Liv3) and Hegu (LI4) lasted for 3 minutes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Region of interest analysis showed that the impaired DMN connectivity in AD (identified by comparing the pre-acupuncture RS-fMRI of AD and NC), specifically the left cingulate gyrus (CG) and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL), were significantly changed for the better. The whole-brain exploratory analysis further demonstrated these results and found some new regions respond to the acupuncture effect on AD, with a cluster in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) together with right IPL showed increased within-DMN connectivity; and the bilateral CG and left PCu showed decreased within-DMN connectivity. Moreover, the acupuncture effect on the right MTG was significantly correlated with disease severity as measured by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was found that the acupuncture stimulation could modulate the DMN activity in AD. The current findings suggest that the acupuncture treatment on the relative earlier AD patients might have a better therapy effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China Beijing Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Brain Informatics, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Peipeng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Siemens Healthcare, MR Collaboration NE Asia, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Tianyi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China Beijing Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Brain Informatics, Beijing, China Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China cjr.likuncheng@vip.163.com.
authors.forename: Kuncheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D015669:Acupuncture Points; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; acupuncture; functional MRI; resting state