Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2012 Mar;6(1):77-87. doi: 10.1007/s11682-011-9146-z.
The current study investigated the immediate neurophysiological effects of different types of massage in healthy adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Much attention has been given to the default mode network, a set of brain regions showing greater activity in the resting state. These regions (i.e. insula, posterior and anterior cingulate, inferior parietal and medial prefrontal cortices) have been postulated to be involved in the neural correlates of consciousness, specifically in arousal and awareness. We posit that massage would modulate these same regions given the benefits and pleasant affective properties of touch. To this end, healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: 1. Swedish massage, 2. reflexology, 3. massage with an object or 4. a resting control condition. The right foot was massaged while each participant performed a cognitive association task in the scanner. We found that the Swedish massage treatment activated the subgenual anterior and retrosplenial/posterior cingulate cortices. This increased blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal was maintained only in the former brain region during performance of the cognitive task. Interestingly, the reflexology massage condition selectively affected the retrosplenial/posterior cingulate in the resting state, whereas massage with the object augmented the BOLD response in this region during the cognitive task performance. These findings should have implications for better understanding how alternative treatments might affect resting state neural activity and could ultimately be important for devising new targets in the management of mood disorders.
本研究采用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）技术，探讨了不同类型的按摩对健康成年人的即时神经生理影响。人们对默认模式网络（default mode network）给予了极大的关注，该网络是一组在静息状态下表现出更高活动的脑区。这些区域（即岛叶、后扣带回和前扣带回、下顶叶和内侧前额叶皮质）被认为与意识的神经相关物有关，特别是与觉醒和意识有关。我们假设，由于触摸的益处和愉悦的情感特性，按摩会调节这些相同的区域。为此，健康参与者被随机分配到以下四种条件之一：1. 瑞典式按摩，2. 反射疗法，3. 物体按摩，4. 休息对照条件。在参与者在扫描仪中执行认知联想任务时，对右脚进行按摩。我们发现，瑞典式按摩治疗激活了亚属前扣带回和后扣带回/后扣带回皮质。在执行认知任务期间，只有在前脑区域中保持了这种增加的血氧水平依赖（BOLD）信号。有趣的是，反射疗法按摩条件选择性地影响了后扣带回/后扣带回皮质在静息状态下，而用物体按摩则在认知任务执行期间增强了该区域的 BOLD 反应。这些发现应该有助于更好地理解替代治疗方法如何影响静息状态的神经活动，并且最终可能对设计情绪障碍管理的新目标很重要。
