Sun Zhao, Shen Wei, Wang Xiao-Long, Zou Bei-Lei, Fu Shuai
Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2014 Dec;34(12):1191-5.
With functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), cerebral function imaging of acupuncture and sham acupuncture at Taichong (LR 3) in patients with essential hypertension (EH) was observed to analyze central mechanism of Taichong (LR 3) to treat EH.
Eighteen EH patients were divided into a twisting acupuncture group (10 cases) and a sham acupuncture group (8 cases), which were treated with twisting manipulation and sham acu- puncture at right Taichong (LR 3), respectively. The treatments were both given with 30-second manipulation and 30- second interval for totally 5 min. During the acupuncture, fMRI was adopted to scan the cerebral function imaging of EH patients on resting state, and the acquired data were analyzed with SPM2 module in Matlab software.
Acupunc- ture at Taichong (LR 3) in EH patients mainly increased opposite-side oxygen consumption, which generally activated left anterior cingulated gyrus (BA 32), left inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), left inferior temporal gyrus (BA 19), left middle temporal gyrus (BA 37) and right anterior central gyrus (BA 6). The activated areas were related to motor, vision and cognition of emotion. Stimulation region of sham acupuncture mainly included right anterior cingulated gyrus (BA 24), left inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 7).
The central mechanism of Tai- chong (LR 3) on antihypertensive effect and symptom improvement is not in thalamus and medulla that are traditionally believed to control blood pressure. Taichong (LR 3) could activate anterior cingulated gyrus to regulate parasympathetic nerve and lower blood pressure, and through anterior cingulated gyrus, the connection with the surrounding areas is strengthened to improve the cognitive impairment caused by long-term hypertension.
采用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）观察原发性高血压（EH）患者针刺及假针刺太冲穴（LR 3）的脑功能成像，分析太冲穴（LR 3）治疗EH的中枢机制。
将18例EH患者分为捻转针刺组（10例）和假针刺组（8例），分别于右侧太冲穴（LR 3）行捻转手法针刺和假针刺治疗。治疗均采用30秒手法操作，间隔30秒，共5分钟。针刺过程中，采用fMRI扫描EH患者静息状态下的脑功能成像，采集的数据用Matlab软件中的SPM2模块进行分析。
EH患者针刺太冲穴（LR 3）主要增加对侧氧耗，一般激活左侧前扣带回（BA 32）、左侧顶下小叶（BA 40）、左侧颞下回（BA 19）、左侧颞中回（BA 37）和右侧中央前回（BA 6）。激活区域与运动、视觉及情绪认知有关。假针刺刺激区域主要包括右侧前扣带回（BA 24）、左侧顶下小叶（BA 40）和左侧额下回（BA 7）。
太冲穴（LR 3）降压及改善症状的中枢机制并非传统认为的控制血压的丘脑和延髓。太冲穴（LR 3）可激活前扣带回以调节副交感神经并降低血压，且通过前扣带回加强与周围区域的联系，改善长期高血压所致的认知障碍。
