Division of Optical Brain Engineering, Department of Neurological Surgery, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2010;662:455-60. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1241-1_65.
Acupuncture is helpful in treating various diseases, including autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction caused by mental stress. On the other hand, the frontal lobe is suggested to play an important role in stress responses by modulating the ANS. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on ANS and frontal lobe activities. We investigated 18 normal adults. We measured the activity of prefrontal cortex (PFC) caused by real acupuncture (WHO-LI4) and sham acupuncture, employing optical topography. To evaluate ANS function, we analyzed heart rate variability (HRV). Analysis of HRV revealed a decrease of the LF/HF ratio, and an increase of the HF power by real acupuncture, indicating a shift to parasympathetic dominancy. Acupuncture also caused cerebral blood oxygenation changes in both directions, that is, an increase and/or a decrease of oxyhemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) in the bilateral PFC. However, the Oxy-Hb change was not correlated with HRV parameters in the majority of cases. One of the possible explanations of the poor correlations might be that the PFC activity induced by acupuncture is not closely linked with ANS function.
针灸有助于治疗各种疾病，包括精神压力引起的自主神经系统（ANS）功能障碍。另一方面，额叶被认为通过调节 ANS 在应激反应中发挥重要作用。本研究旨在评估针灸对 ANS 和额叶活动的影响。我们调查了 18 名正常成年人。我们使用光拓扑学测量了真实针灸（WHO-LI4）和假针灸引起的前额叶皮层（PFC）的活动。为了评估 ANS 功能，我们分析了心率变异性（HRV）。HRV 分析显示 LF/HF 比值降低，真实针灸可使 HF 功率增加，表明副交感神经优势转移。针灸还导致双侧 PFC 的脑血氧变化，即氧合血红蛋白（Oxy-Hb）的增加和/或减少。然而，在大多数情况下，Oxy-Hb 变化与 HRV 参数没有相关性。相关性差的一个可能解释是针灸引起的 PFC 活动与 ANS 功能没有密切联系。
