An fMRI study of neural pathways following acupuncture in mild cognitive impairment patients

  • Yuanyuan Feng
  • , Lijun Bai
  • , Hu Wang
  • , Chongguang Zhong
  • , Youbo You
  • , Wensheng Zhang
  • , Jie Tian

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

While the use of acupuncture as a complementary therapeutic method for treating MCI is popular in certain parts of the world, the underlying mechanism is still elusive. In the current study, we adopted multivariate Granger causality analysis (mGCA) to explore the causal interactions of brain networks involving acupuncture in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients compared to healthy controls (HC). The fMRI experiment was performed with two different paradigms: namely, deep acupuncture (DA) and superficial acupuncture (SA) at acupoint KI3. Results demonstrated that deep acupuncture could modulate the abnormal regions in MCI group. These regions are implicated in memory encoding and retrieving. This may relate to the purported therapeutically beneficial effects of acupuncture for the treatment of MCI. However, the most significant causal interactions were found in the sensorimotor regions in HC group. This may because acupuncture has a greater modulatory effect on patients with a pathological imbalance. This paper provides the preliminary neurophysiological evidence for the potential efficacy effect of acupuncture on MCI.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMedical Imaging 2012
Subtitle of host publicationBiomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes
EventMedical Imaging 2012: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: 5 Feb 20127 Feb 2012

Publication series

NameProgress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE
Volume8317
ISSN (Print)1605-7422

Conference

ConferenceMedical Imaging 2012: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period5/02/127/02/12

Keywords

  • Acupuncture
  • FMRI
  • Mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
  • Multivariate Granger causality analysis (mGCA)

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