Li Geng, Jack Clifford R, Yang Edward S
The Jockey Club MRI Centre, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
J Magn Reson Imaging. 2006 Nov;24(5):1018-24. doi: 10.1002/jmri.20702.
To assess differences in brain responses between stroke patients and controls to tactile and electrical acupuncture stimulation using functional MRI (fMRI).
A total of 12 male, clinically stable stroke patients with left side somatosensory deficits, and 12 age-matched male control subjects were studied. fMRI was performed with two different paradigms; namely, tactile stimuli and electrical stimulation at acupuncture points LI4 and LI11 on the affected side of the body. fMRI data were analyzed using SPM99.
Tactile stimulation in both patients and controls produced significant activation in primary and secondary sensory and motor cortical areas and cerebellum. Greater activation was present in patients than controls in the somatosensory cortex with both the tactile task and the acupuncture point (acupoint) stimulation. Activation was greater during the tactile task than the acupuncture stimulation in patients and normal controls.
Differences observed between patients and controls on both tasks may indicate compensatory over recruitment of neocortical areas involved in somatosensory perception in the stroke patients. The observed differences between patients and controls on the acupoint stimulation task may also indicate that stimulation of acupoints used therapeutically to enhance recovery from stroke, selectively activates areas thought to be involved in mediating recovery from stroke via functional plasticity. fMRI of acupoint stimulation may illustrate the functional substrate of the therapeutically beneficial effect of acupuncture in stroke rehabilitation.
使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）评估中风患者与对照组在触觉和电针刺激下大脑反应的差异。
共研究了12名临床上病情稳定、有左侧体感缺陷的男性中风患者以及12名年龄匹配的男性对照受试者。使用两种不同的模式进行fMRI检查，即对身体患侧的LI4和LI11穴位进行触觉刺激和电刺激。使用SPM99对fMRI数据进行分析。
患者和对照组的触觉刺激均在初级和次级感觉及运动皮层区域以及小脑中产生了显著激活。在体感皮层中，无论是触觉任务还是穴位刺激，患者的激活程度均高于对照组。在患者和正常对照组中，触觉任务期间的激活程度均高于针刺刺激。
在两项任务中患者与对照组之间观察到的差异可能表明中风患者参与体感感知的新皮层区域存在代偿性过度募集。在穴位刺激任务中患者与对照组之间观察到的差异也可能表明，用于促进中风恢复的治疗性穴位刺激选择性地激活了被认为通过功能可塑性参与介导中风恢复的区域。穴位刺激的fMRI可能阐明了针刺在中风康复中有益治疗效果的功能基础。
