title: Decreased peripheral and central responses to acupuncture stimulation following modification of body ownership.
abstract: Acupuncture stimulation increases local blood flow around the site of stimulation and induces signal changes in brain regions related to the body matrix. The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is an experimental paradigm that manipulates important aspects of bodily self-awareness. The present study aimed to investigate how modifications of body ownership using the RHI affect local blood flow and cerebral responses during acupuncture needle stimulation. During the RHI, acupuncture needle stimulation was applied to the real left hand while measuring blood microcirculation with a LASER Doppler imager (Experiment 1, N = 28) and concurrent brain signal changes using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; Experiment 2, N = 17). When the body ownership of participants was altered by the RHI, acupuncture stimulation resulted in a significantly lower increase in local blood flow (Experiment 1), and significantly less brain activation was detected in the right insula (Experiment 2). This study found changes in both local blood flow and brain responses during acupuncture needle stimulation following modification of body ownership. These findings suggest that physiological responses during acupuncture stimulation can be influenced by the modification of body ownership.
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea; Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Younbyoung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chae
authors.affiliation: Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: In-Seon
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Won-Mo
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dong-Seon
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States of America; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyunghee University, Yongin, Korea.
authors.forename: Vitaly
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Napadow
authors.affiliation: Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyejung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hi-Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wallraven
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult