Qin Wei, Tian Jie, Bai Lijun, Pan Xiaohong, Yang Lin, Chen Peng, Dai Jianping, Ai Lin, Zhao Baixiao, Gong Qiyong, Wang Wei, von Deneen Karen M, Liu Yijun
Medical Image Processing Group, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
Mol Pain. 2008 Nov 13;4:55. doi: 10.1186/1744-8069-4-55.
Recently, increasing evidence has indicated that the primary acupuncture effects are mediated by the central nervous system. However, specific brain networks underpinning these effects remain unclear.
In the present study using fMRI, we employed a within-condition interregional covariance analysis method to investigate functional connectivity of brain networks involved in acupuncture. The fMRI experiment was performed before, during and after acupuncture manipulations on healthy volunteers at an acupuncture point, which was previously implicated in a neural pathway for pain modulation. We first identified significant fMRI signal changes during acupuncture stimulation in the left amygdala, which was subsequently selected as a functional reference for connectivity analyses. Our results have demonstrated that there is a brain network associated with the amygdala during a resting condition. This network encompasses the brain structures that are implicated in both pain sensation and pain modulation. We also found that such a pain-related network could be modulated by both verum acupuncture and sham acupuncture. Furthermore, compared with a sham acupuncture, the verum acupuncture induced a higher level of correlations among the amygdala-associated network.
Our findings indicate that acupuncture may change this amygdala-specific brain network into a functional state that underlies pain perception and pain modulation.
最近，越来越多的证据表明，针刺的主要效应是由中枢神经系统介导的。然而，支撑这些效应的特定脑网络仍不清楚。
在本研究中，我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI），采用条件内区域间协方差分析方法来研究针刺相关脑网络的功能连接性。对健康志愿者在一个先前被认为参与疼痛调制神经通路的穴位进行针刺操作，在针刺操作前、操作期间和操作后进行fMRI实验。我们首先在针刺刺激期间在左侧杏仁核中识别出显著的fMRI信号变化，随后将其选作连接性分析的功能参考。我们的结果表明，在静息状态下存在一个与杏仁核相关的脑网络。该网络包含与痛觉和疼痛调制均相关的脑结构。我们还发现，这样一个与疼痛相关的网络可被真针刺和假针刺所调制。此外，与假针刺相比，真针刺在杏仁核相关网络中诱导出更高水平的相关性。
我们的研究结果表明，针刺可能将这个特定于杏仁核的脑网络转变为一种构成疼痛感知和疼痛调制基础的功能状态。
