title: The brain effects of laser acupuncture at thirteen ghost acupoints in healthy individuals: A resting-state functional MRI investigation.
abstract: Acupuncture at thirteen ghost acupoints (TGA) was an effective treatment of neuropsychological disorders. However, the underlying neurological mechanisms of acupuncture at the TGA have not been revealed by modern scientific technologies. As laser acupuncture emerges with the painless and noninvasive advantages and the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows us to investigate the activation of the brain in vivo, we performed the preliminary study to investigate the relation to brain effects of acupuncture at TGA based on resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI). Twenty one healthy subjects underwent rs-fMRI scan before and after acupuncturing TGA (except HI11 and CV1). The regional homogeneity (ReHo) values and the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values were evaluated within the whole brain and compared before and after laser stimulation of TGA. We found increased ReHo/ALFF value in serious brain regions, including right inferior occipital gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, and bilateral postcentral gyrus, after acupuncture. While, significantly decreased ReHo/ALFF value was found in the cerebellum, left superior medial frontal gyrus, left precuneus, right middle temporal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus and left superior parietal lobule after laser stimulation. The changes in brain spontaneous function after laser acupuncture may suggest that acupuncturing at TGA may have the potential modulating effect of the cognitive functions. These preliminary findings of the changes of brain patterns at resting-state after TGA stimulation may lay the groundwork for further studies on its therapeutic effect in some neuropsychological disease models.
authors: Department of Radiology, Tianjin Nankai Hospital, Tianjin, China.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Lv
authors: Medical Imaging Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Changzheng
authors: C
authors: Shi
authors: Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
authors: Yanjia
authors: Y
authors: Deng
authors: Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
authors: Wutao
authors: W
authors: Lou
authors: Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Hu
authors: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China; Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovation Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: shilin@cuhk.edu.hk.
authors: Lin
authors: L
authors: Shi
authors: Medical Imaging Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: tluop@jnu.edu.cn.
authors: Liangping
authors: L
authors: Luo
authors: Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China; Research Center for Medical Image Computing, Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China; Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.
authors: Defeng
authors: D
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D026881:Acupuncture; D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Acupuncture; Laser; Resting-state functional MRI; Thirteen ghost acupoints