Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Neurosci Lett. 2023 Aug 24;812:137398. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137398. Epub 2023 Jul 17.
Cerebral Stroke is an acute cerebrovascular disease, a disease of brain tissue damage caused by the sudden rupture or blockage of blood vessels in the brain that prevents blood flow to the brain. Acupuncture has become a popular treatment for stroke, with auricular acupuncture providing a new idea for stroke treatment. However, the neuromodulatory mechanism of auricular acupuncture in the brain is still unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of auricular acupuncture in the treatment of upper limb dysfunction and the activation of specific brain regions in stroke patients. Forty patients with stroke hemiplegia who met the nerf criteria were included in the experiment and randomly assigned into two groups (20 patients in each group): the auricular acupuncture group and the control group. Fugl-Meyer score (FMA) assessment of upper limb motor function, motor evoked potential (MEP) measurement, and functional near-infrared brain function imaging (fNIRS) data acquisition in the primary motor M1 area of the brain at rest were performed before and after treatment, respectively. It was found that: 1) after auricular acupuncture treatment, the patients in the auricular acupuncture group showed significantly greater peak MEP and significantly higher oxyhemoglobin content in the M1 region of the brain compared with the control group, with a significant activation effect (MEP: P-value = 0.032, t = -2.22; HbO2; f = 4.225, p = 0.046); 2) in the clinical efficacy assessment, the FMA score in the auricular acupuncture group after treatment (p = 0.0122, t = 2.769). The results suggest that auricular acupuncture has an ameliorative effect on upper limb motor deficits after stroke and that activation of the M1 region of the brain may be a key node in auricular acupuncture for treating upper limb dysfunction in stroke patients, a finding that emphasizes the potential for clinical application of auricular acupuncture therapy for stroke patients with potential mechanisms influencing the outcome.
脑卒中有一个急性脑血管疾病，是一种因脑部血管突然破裂或阻塞而导致脑组织损伤的疾病，使血液无法流入大脑。针灸已成为治疗中风的一种流行方法，耳针为中风治疗提供了新的思路。然而，耳针在大脑中的神经调节机制尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨耳针对中风患者上肢运动功能障碍及特定脑区激活的影响。实验纳入了 40 例符合神经标准的中风偏瘫患者，将其随机分为两组（每组 20 例）：耳针组和对照组。分别于治疗前后进行上肢运动功能的 Fugl-Meyer 评分（FMA）评估、运动诱发电位（MEP）测量以及大脑初级运动 M1 区的功能近红外脑功能成像（fNIRS）数据采集。结果发现：1）耳针治疗后，耳针组患者的 MEP 峰值明显增大，大脑 M1 区的氧合血红蛋白含量明显升高，具有明显的激活作用（MEP：P 值=0.032，t=-2.22；HbO2；f=4.225，p=0.046）；2）在临床疗效评估中，治疗后耳针组的 FMA 评分（p=0.0122，t=2.769）明显提高。结果表明，耳针对中风后上肢运动功能障碍有改善作用，大脑 M1 区的激活可能是耳针对中风患者上肢运动功能障碍治疗的关键节点，这一发现强调了耳针对中风患者潜在的临床应用价值，其潜在机制可能影响治疗效果。
