Comparative Study Of Mannual And Electroacupuncture(EA) Of ZUSANLI(ST36) Using FMRI

IntroductionOriental medicine in general and acupuncture in particular have been used for thousands of years in china. In Western countries, oriental medicine, especially that of acupuncture , has been known recently.The development of oriental medicine is relatively slow and still relies on ancient literature, which is largely descriptive rather than quantitative or even factual.In oriental medicine, there has been little effort to show the connection between the brain and various disorders and diseases. With the development of positron emission tomography (ECT) and MRI, many secrets of brain function are being revealed but still remain quality rather than quantitative.Since the development of functional MRI (fMRI) in 1992, secrets of brain function have begun to be revealed on medical imaging. The fMRI technique is based on when the encephalon functional area is stimulated, activities of partial encephalon will be boosted up and cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption of the part will be increased (4-6). Due to the increase of oxygen consumption HbO₂ will be decreased and T2^* will be shorten. On the other hand HbO₂ will be increased and T2^* will be extended due to the increase of CBF. Each result is the balance of both conditions. If the deoxyhemoglobin increases the oxygenic hemoglobin will be decreased and signal intensity on T2^*-weighted images will be decreased. But if the increase of CBF exceeds the affection of the increase of oxygen consumption, the increase of oxygenic hemoglobin appears in the capillary bed and small veins, T2^* time will be extended and signal intensity will be increased so that the activated encephalon functional area can be indicated clearly. Human brain and various organ functions of the brain, such as visual, motor, auditory, sensory, as well as cognitive, have already been studied by FMRI.. However, the research for the mechanisms of acupuncture is one of the focuses in current researches, as for including the acupuncture of Zusanli acupuncture point, and there are few reports available and most of them are limited on single stimulation method. The Zusanli acupuncture point, which known as one of major "Shengmingxue" (means life acupuncture point) and "Dufusanlishou" (means the gastrointestinal functions are adjusted by Zusanli acupuncture point), is included in Yangming gastric channel and has a curative effect on EA diseases in various systems such as respiration system, circulation system, urination system,...