title: Exploring the patterns of acupuncture on mild cognitive impairment patients using regional homogeneity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the different responses to acupuncture in MCI patients and age-matched healthy subjects reflected by the Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) indices.
  
  
  METHODS
  The experiment was performed at the acupoint KI3 in 12 MCI patients and 12 healthy controls, respectively. A novel non-repeated event-related (NRER) fMRI design paradigm was applied to separately detect neural activities related to different stages of acupuncture (pre-acupuncture resting state, needling manipulation and post-acupuncture resting state). ReHo values were calculated for MCI patients and healthy controls in pre- and post-acupuncture resting state. Then, a two-way ANCOVA with repeated measures with post-hoc two sample t-tests was performed to explore the different responses to acupuncture in the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ANCOVA revealed a significant main effect of group, but no significant main effect of acupuncture and interactions between group and acupuncture. During the pre-acupuncture resting state, ReHo values increased in the precentral gyrus (PCG), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), and insula (INS) and decreased mainly in middle temporal gyrus (MTG), parahippocampal (PHIP) and cingulate cortex in MCI patients compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, we found that the regions including precuneus (PCUN), and cingulate cortex showed increased ReHo values for MCI patients following acupuncture. For healthy controls, the medial frontal gyrus, PCG, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and INS showed enhanced ReHo values following acupuncture. During the post-acupuncture resting state, MCI patients showed increased ReHo values mainly in the MTG, superior parietal lobule (SPL), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), supramarginal (SMG), and PCG, and decreased ReHo values mainly in the frontal regions, PHIP, and posterior cingulated cortex (PCC) compared to healthy controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though we found some ReHo changes between MCI patients and healthy controls, the two-way ANCOVA results showed no significant effects after multiple corrections. Further study is needed to reveal the real acupuncture effects on MCI patients.
authors: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Zhenyu
authors: Z
authors: Liu
authors: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Wenjuan
authors: W
authors: Wei
authors: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Lijun
authors: L
authors: Bai
authors: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Ruwei
authors: R
authors: Dai
authors: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Youbo
authors: Y
authors: You
authors: Department of Acupuncture and Massage, Bao'an Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China.
authors: Shangjie
authors: S
authors: Chen
authors: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Tian
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged