Department of Neurology, Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100078, China.
Department of Radiology, Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100078, China.
Neural Plast. 2021 Mar 8;2021:8876873. doi: 10.1155/2021/8876873. eCollection 2021.
It was reported that acupuncture could treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) with the potential mechanisms remaining unclear. The aim of the study is to explore the effect of the combination stimulus of Hegu (LI4) and Taichong (LR3) on the resting-state brain networks in AD, beyond the default network (DMN). Twenty-eight subjects including 14 AD patients and 14 healthy controls (HCs) matched by age, gender, and educational level were recruited in this study. After the baseline resting-state MRI scans, the manual acupuncture stimulation was performed for 3 minutes, and then, another 10 minutes of resting-state fMRI scans was acquired. In addition to the DMN, five other resting-state networks were identified by independent component analysis (ICA), including left frontal parietal network (lFPN), right frontal parietal network (rFPN), visual network (VN), sensorimotor network (SMN), and auditory network (AN). And the impaired connectivity in the lFPN, rFPN, SMN, and VN was found in AD patients compared with those in HCs. After acupuncture, significantly decreased connectivity in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) of rFPN ( = 0.007) was identified in AD patients. However, reduced connectivity in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) ( = 0.047) and left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) ( = 0.041) of lFPN and some regions of the SMN (the left inferior parietal lobula ( = 0.004), left postcentral gyrus (PoCG) ( = 0.001), right PoCG ( = 0.032), and right MFG ( = 0.010)) and the right MOG of VN ( = 0.003) was indicated in HCs. In addition, after controlling for the effect of acupuncture on HCs, the functional connectivity of the right cerebellum crus I, left IFG, and left angular gyrus (AG) of lFPN showed to be decreased, while the left MFG of IFPN and the right lingual gyrus of VN increased in AD patients. These findings might have some reference values for the interpretation of the combination stimulus of Hegu (LI4) and Taichong (LR3) in AD patients, which could deepen our understanding of the potential mechanisms of acupuncture on AD.
据报道，针刺可能通过尚未阐明的潜在机制治疗阿尔茨海默病（AD）。本研究的目的是探索合谷（LI4）和太冲（LR3）组合刺激对 AD 静息态脑网络的影响，超越默认网络（DMN）。本研究共纳入 28 名受试者，包括 14 名 AD 患者和 14 名年龄、性别和教育程度相匹配的健康对照（HC）。在基线静息态 MRI 扫描后，进行手动针刺刺激 3 分钟，然后采集 10 分钟的静息态 fMRI 扫描。除 DMN 外，还通过独立成分分析（ICA）识别了另外 5 个静息态网络，包括左额顶网络（lFPN）、右额顶网络（rFPN）、视觉网络（VN）、感觉运动网络（SMN）和听觉网络（AN）。与 HC 相比，AD 患者的 lFPN、rFPN、SMN 和 VN 的连接受损。针刺后，AD 患者 rFPN 的右侧额中回（MFG）的连接显著降低（ = 0.007）。然而，lFPN 的右侧额下回（IFG）（ = 0.047）和左侧额上回（SFG）（ = 0.041）以及 SMN 的一些区域（左侧顶下小叶（ = 0.004）、左侧中央后回（PoCG）（ = 0.001）、右侧 PoCG（ = 0.032）和右侧 MFG（ = 0.010））和 VN 的右侧 MOG 连接降低。此外，在控制针刺对 HC 的影响后，lFPN 的右侧小脑脚 I、左侧 IFG 和左侧角回的功能连接降低，而 IFPN 的左侧 MFG 和 VN 的右侧舌回增加。这些发现可能为解释 AD 患者合谷（LI4）和太冲（LR3）的组合刺激提供一些参考价值，可以加深我们对针刺治疗 AD 的潜在机制的理解。
