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Murase T, Umeda M, Higuchi T. Investigation of Acupuncture-specific BOLD Signal Changes Using Multiband Acquisition and Deconvolution Analysis. Magn Reson Med Sci 2021; 20:425-430. [PMID: 33551385 PMCID: PMC8922352 DOI: 10.2463/mrms.mp.2020-0164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE We investigated the temporal dynamics of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal responses during various stimuli, including real acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and palm scrubbing. For this purpose, deconvolution analysis was used to perform measurements using multi-band (MB) echo-planar imaging (EPI), which can improve time resolution, and to analyze brain responses without an expected reference function. METHODS We devided 26 healthy right-handed adults into a group of 13 who received real acupuncture stimulation with manual manipulation and the other group of 13 who received sham acupuncture and palm scrubbing tactical stimulations. Data analysis was performed with a combination of analysis packages. RESULTS We found stimulus-specific impulse responses of the BOLD signal in various brain regions. During real acupuncture, activated areas were observed in the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) and insula during stimulation and in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), supplementary motor area (SMA), and thalamus after the stimulation. During sham acupuncture, activated areas were observed in the SII, insula, and thalamus during simulation. During the scrubbing condition, activated areas were observed in the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI), SII, insula, and thalamus during stimulation. In particular, during the real acupuncture condition, significantly delayed and long-sustained increased signals were observed in several brain regions, in contrast to the signals induced with sham acupuncture and palm scrubbing.Coclusion: We speculated that the delayed and long-sustained signal increases were caused by peripheral nociceptors, flare responses, and time-consuming processing in the central nervous system. We used deconvolution analysis with MB EPI and tent functions to identify the delayed increase in the BOLD signal in the area related to pain perception specifically observed in real acupuncture stimulation. We propose that the specific BOLD signal change observed in this study will lead to the elucidation of the mechanism underlying the therapeutic effect of acupuncture stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomokazu Murase
- Department of Medical Informatics, Meiji University of Integrative Medicine
| | - Masahiro Umeda
- Department of Medical Informatics, Meiji University of Integrative Medicine
| | - Toshihiro Higuchi
- Department of Neurosurgery, Meiji University of Integrative Medicine
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Scheffold BE, Hsieh CL, Litscher G. Neuroimaging and Neuromonitoring Effects of Electro and Manual Acupuncture on the Central Nervous System: A Literature Review and Analysis. EVIDENCE-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE : ECAM 2015; 2015:641742. [PMID: 26339269 PMCID: PMC4538975 DOI: 10.1155/2015/641742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2014] [Accepted: 09/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the different effects of manual and electroacupuncture on the central nervous system in studies with different neuroimaging interventions. The Database PubMed was searched from 1/1/2000 to 1/6/2014 with restriction to human studies in English language. Data collection for functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies was restricted to the period from 1/1/2010 to 1/6/2014 due to a recently published review which included all published randomized and nonrandomized controlled clinical studies as well as observational studies with control groups, no blinding required. Only studies comparing manual or electroacupuncture with sham acupuncture were eligible. All participants were healthy adult men and women. A majority of 25 studies compared manual versus sham, a minority of 7 trials compared electro versus sham and only 1 study compared electro versus manual acupuncture. In 29 out of 33 studies verum acupuncture results were found to present either more or different modulation effects on neurological components measured by neuroimaging and neuromonitoring methods than sham acupuncture. Only four studies reported no effects of verum in comparison to sham acupuncture. Evaluation of the very heterogeneous results shows evidence that verum acupuncture elicits more modulation effects on neurological components than sham acupuncture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Elisabeth Scheffold
- Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science, International Master Program, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Ching-Liang Hsieh
- Graduate Institute of Integrated Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Gerhard Litscher
- China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
- Research Unit for Complementary and Integrative Laser Medicine, Research Unit of Biomedical Engineering in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, and TCM Research Center Graz, Medical University of Graz, 8036 Graz, Austria
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Li C, Yang J, Park K, Wu H, Hu S, Zhang W, Bu J, Xu C, Qiu B, Zhang X. Prolonged repeated acupuncture stimulation induces habituation effects in pain-related brain areas: an FMRI study. PLoS One 2014; 9:e97502. [PMID: 24821143 PMCID: PMC4018444 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2014] [Accepted: 04/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Most previous studies of brain responses to acupuncture were designed to investigate the acupuncture instant effect while the cumulative effect that should be more important in clinical practice has seldom been discussed. In this study, the neural basis of the acupuncture cumulative effect was analyzed. For this experiment, forty healthy volunteers were recruited, in which more than 40 minutes of repeated acupuncture stimulation was implemented at acupoint Zhusanli (ST36). Three runs of acupuncture fMRI datasets were acquired, with each run consisting of two blocks of acupuncture stimulation. Besides general linear model (GLM) analysis, the cumulative effects of acupuncture were analyzed with analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to find the association between the brain response and the cumulative duration of acupuncture stimulation in each stimulation block. The experimental results showed that the brain response in the initial stage was the strongest although the brain response to acupuncture was time-variant. In particular, the brain areas that were activated in the first block and the brain areas that demonstrated cumulative effects in the course of repeated acupuncture stimulation overlapped in the pain-related areas, including the bilateral middle cingulate cortex, the bilateral paracentral lobule, the SII, and the right thalamus. Furthermore, the cumulative effects demonstrated bimodal characteristics, i.e. the brain response was positive at the beginning, and became negative at the end. It was suggested that the cumulative effect of repeated acupuncture stimulation was consistent with the characteristic of habituation effects. This finding may explain the neurophysiologic mechanism underlying acupuncture analgesia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanfu Li
- Laboratory of Digital Medical Imaging, Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Jun Yang
- Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Kyungmo Park
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Republic of Korea
| | - Hongli Wu
- College of Medical Information engineering, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Sheng Hu
- School of Information Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Laboratory of Digital Medical Imaging, Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Junjie Bu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Chunsheng Xu
- Laboratory of Digital Medical Imaging, Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Bensheng Qiu
- School of Information Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Xiaochu Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function & Disease and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
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Murase T, Umeda M, Fukunaga M, Tanaka C, Higuchi T. Deconvolution analyses with tent functions reveal delayed and long-sustained increases of BOLD signals with acupuncture stimulation. Magn Reson Med Sci 2013; 12:121-7. [PMID: 23666154 DOI: 10.2463/mrms.2012-0070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
We used deconvolution analysis to examine temporal changes in brain activity after acupuncture stimulation and assess brain responses without expected reference functions. We also examined temporal changes in brain activity after sham acupuncture (noninsertive) and scrubbing stimulation. We divided 26 healthy right-handed adults into a group of 13 who received real acupuncture with manual manipulation and a group of 13 who received both tactical stimulations. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sequences consisted of four 15-s stimulation blocks (ON) interspersed between one 30-s and four 45-s rest blocks (OFF) for a total scanning time of 270 s. We analyzed data by using Statistical Parametric Mapping 8 (SPM8), MarsBaR, and Analysis of Functional NeuroImages (AFNI) software. For statistical analysis, we used 3dDeconvolve, part of the AFNI package, to extract the impulse response functions (IRFs) of the fMRI signals on a voxel-wise basis, and we tested the time courses of the extracted IRFs for the stimulations. We found stimulus-specific impulse responses of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals in various brain regions. We observed significantly delayed and long-sustained increases of BOLD signals in several brain regions following real acupuncture compared to sham acupuncture and palm scrubbing, which we attribute to peripheral nocireceptors, flare responses, and processing of the central nervous system. Acupuncture stimulation induced continued activity that was stronger than activity after the other stimulations. We used tent function deconvolution to process fMRI data for acupuncture stimulation and found delayed increasing and delayed decreasing changes in BOLD signal in the somatosensory areas and areas related to pain perception. Deconvolution analyses with tent functions are expected to be useful in extracting complicated and associated brain activity that is delayed and sustained for a long period after various stimulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomokazu Murase
- Department of Neurosurgery, Meiji University of Integrative Medicine, Hiyoshi-cho, Nantan-shi, Kyoto 629-0392, Japan.
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Remote effect of lower limb acupuncture on latent myofascial trigger point of upper trapezius muscle: a pilot study. EVIDENCE-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE 2013; 2013:287184. [PMID: 23710218 PMCID: PMC3655618 DOI: 10.1155/2013/287184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2013] [Revised: 03/26/2013] [Accepted: 03/29/2013] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Objectives. To demonstrate the use of acupuncture in the lower limbs to treat myofascial pain of the upper trapezius muscles via a remote effect. Methods. Five adults with latent myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) of bilateral upper trapezius muscles received acupuncture at Weizhong (UB40) and Yanglingquan (GB34) points in the lower limbs. Modified acupuncture was applied at these points on a randomly selected ipsilateral lower limb (experimental side) versus sham needling on the contralateral lower limb (control side) in each subject. Each subject received two treatments within a one-week interval. To evaluate the remote effect of acupuncture, the range of motion (ROM) upon bending the contralateral side of the cervical spine was assessed before and after each treatment. Results. There was significant improvement in cervical ROM after the second treatment (P = 0.03) in the experimental group, and the increased ROM on the modified acupuncture side was greater compared to the sham needling side (P = 0.036). Conclusions. A remote effect of acupuncture was demonstrated in this pilot study. Using modified acupuncture needling at remote acupuncture points in the ipsilateral lower limb, our treatments released tightness due to latent MTrPs of the upper trapezius muscle.
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Huang Y, Zeng T, Zhang G, Li G, Lu N, Lai X, Lu Y, Chen J. Activated and deactivated functional brain areas in the Deqi state: A functional MRI study. Neural Regen Res 2012; 7:2362-9. [PMID: 25538761 PMCID: PMC4268742 DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.30.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2012] [Accepted: 07/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
We compared the activities of functional regions of the brain in the Deqi versus non-Deqi state, as reported by physicians and subjects during acupuncture. Twelve healthy volunteers received sham and true needling at the Waiguan (TE5) acupoint. Real-time cerebral functional MRI showed that compared with non-sensation after sham needling, true needling activated Brodmann areas 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 20, 21, 37, 39, 40, 43, and 47, the head of the caudate nucleus, the parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus and red nucleus. True needling also deactivated Brodmann areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 18, 24, 31, 40 and 46.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Huang
- Traditional Chinese Medicine School, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Tongjun Zeng
- Rehabilitation Department, First People's Hospital, Shunde District, Foshan 528300, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Guifeng Zhang
- Academic Affairs Department, Xinxing Chinese Medicine School, Xinxing 527400, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Ganlong Li
- Traditional Chinese Medicine Department, Huarui Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510360, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Na Lu
- Medicophysics Department, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Xinsheng Lai
- Acupuncture and Massage College, Guangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine University, Guangzhou 510405, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Yangjia Lu
- Traditional Chinese Medicine Department, Guangdong Medical College, Dongguan 523808, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Jiarong Chen
- First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
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Ho TJ, Duann JR, Chen CM, Chen JH, Shen WC, Lu TW, Liao JR, Lin JG. Carryover Effects Alter fMRI Statistical Analysis in an Acupuncture Study. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE MEDICINE 2012; 36:55-70. [PMID: 18306450 DOI: 10.1142/s0192415x08005588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Carryover effects can contaminate ON/OFF BOLD contrasts designated in an fMRI experiment. Yet, the ON/OFF contrasts are essential to facilitate statistical analysis based on the significance of contrast levels. Here, we conducted an fMRI experiment with acupuncture stimulation applied on ST42 acupoint as well as with tactile stimulation on its skin surface. Experiment consisted of three two-block acupuncture and one two-block tactile fMRI runs. Each block started with 26-sec OFF period followed by either 26-sec needle manipulation in the acupuncture runs or by scratching skin surface with sand paper in the tactile. To test if carryover effects could alter the BOLD contrasts, we analyzed different portions of fMRI data using GLM method. Our results showed analyses on different portions of acupuncture fMRI data gave significantly different results. Statistical parametric maps of group random effects resulted from the analysis on the very first fMRI trial formed the broadest coverage of the active brain areas. BOLD model time course also best explained the adjusted raw time course at peak active voxel ( coefficient of determination = 0.88). Analyses on other portions of fMRI data only selected subset of the active brain areas delineated by the analysis on the very first data trial and the BOLD model only mildly accounted for the adjusted raw time courses. In tactile runs, results were more consistent across analyses. Therefore, in fMRI experiments with strong carryover effects, a single-block experimental design with multiple repetitions, separated by long enough periods of time, should be more suitable to extract task BOLD effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tsung-Jung Ho
- Graduate Institute of Chinese Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
- Chang-Hua Hospital, Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan
| | - Jeng-Ren Duann
- Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Chun-Ming Chen
- Department of Radiology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
- Department of Electric Engineering, National Chung-Shin University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Jeon-Hor Chen
- Department of Radiology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Wu-Chung Shen
- Department of Radiology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Tung-Wu Lu
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jan-Ray Liao
- Department of Electric Engineering, National Chung-Shin University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Jaung-Geng Lin
- Graduate Institute of Chinese Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
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Yeo S, Choe IH, van den Noort M, Bosch P, Lim S. Consecutive acupuncture stimulations lead to significantly decreased neural responses. J Altern Complement Med 2010; 16:481-7. [PMID: 20423216 DOI: 10.1089/acm.2009.0606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in combination with block design paradigms with consecutive acupuncture stimulations, has often been used to investigate the neural responses to acupuncture. In this study, we investigated whether previous acupuncture stimulations can affect brain activations of later acupuncture stimulations. DESIGN All subjects were measured twice in the same scanning session and a block design was used. SETTING The study was conducted at Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. SUBJECTS Fifteen (15) healthy right-handed male volunteers participated in the study. INTERVENTION The subjects received two acupuncture stimulations on BL62 (Shenmai) on the right foot with a time interval of 5 minutes. In addition, sham stimulations were tested with the same paradigm. OUTCOME MEASURES One-sample t tests were conducted in order to map the brain activations induced by the acupuncture and sham stimulations. Moreover, paired-sample t tests were conducted to investigate the signal changes between the first and second acupuncture stimulation. RESULTS During the first acupuncture stimulation, in the left hemisphere, significant foci of activation were found in the hypothalamus, thalamus, claustrum, cerebellum, inferior frontal gyrus, and the superior temporal gyrus. In the right hemisphere, a significant focus of activation was found in the middle frontal gyrus. In addition, in both hemispheres, a significant focus of activation was found in the inferior parietal lobule. Interestingly, however, during the second acupuncture stimulation, the only areas that were also significantly activated were the cerebellum in the left hemisphere and the inferior parietal lobule in the right hemisphere. CONCLUSIONS We found that consecutive acupuncture stimulations on BL62 affected the neural responses in a significant way, resulting in decreased activations during the second acupuncture stimulation. This is an important finding, suggesting that in future fMRI studies on acupuncture, researchers should take this methodological issue more seriously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sujung Yeo
- Research Group of Pain and Neuroscience, WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine, East-West Medical Research Institute, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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