Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of The Brain Mechanism Of Acupuncture Treatment Of Epigastric Pain

We have reviewed the literature about acupuncture analgesia, the therapy of gastralgia and the cerebral function imaging. Except on the normal subjects and the man-made model of pain, No trials have been tried on the patients who have visceral pain.The aim of this study was to investigate the brain area of Anterior Cingulate Gyrus(ACC) which is related with emotion in the apperceive acupuncture analgesia. Eleven right-handed gastralgia subjects (20-50 years, 5 males, 6 females) were enrolled in the current study. They were performed on LR3 (Taichong acupoint,left or right or both sides). The experimental design consisted of two parts of stomach paining and acupuncture analgesia, in which functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) were collected within 204 seconds. fMRI was performed on a 1.5 Tesla Siemens Novus scanner (Siemens, Germany) using EPI-BOLD imaging methods with TR/TE=2000/50ms. 20 slices were acquired axially, covering the entire brain with the following resolution parameters: matrix=64 x 64, FOV = 24cm, Slice thickness = 6mm. T1-weighted anatomic images were acquired for Talairach transformation and functional mapping. Analysis of the imaging data was performed in SPM99.We found the anterior cingulated gyrus(ACC) was activated, when gastralgia was relieved, its sign was deacted. What's more, we found the stimulation activated bilateral frontal lobe(BA6,9,10), bilateral parietal lobe (BA40,3),bilateral inferior cerebellar lobe, left temporal lobe (BA21). When the gastralgia was relieved, The brain areas deactivated were contralateral frontal lobe(BA6,10),bilateral occipital lobe, ipsilateral inferior cerebellar lobe, ipsilateral temporal lobe, contralateral cingulated gyrus, bilateral precentral gyrus, contralateral insula, bilateral cuneus, ipsilateral superior cuneus, lingual gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, contralateral parahippcampal.As far as we know, it is the first time that we use fMRI to investigate the brain activation of acupuncture analgesia on gastralgia. The results showed that the brain activation and deaction areas of before acupuncturing and after acupuncturing are different,and BA6,10 are founded in the activated and deactivated areas. This tells us the function of acupuncture analgesia is completed by the cerebral cortex and the subcortex. The ACC plays an important part in the emotion perception of pain. This study demonstrated that the limbic lobe is the higher center of viscera.We also expect the study can help us to discuss the mechanism of cerebral function remodeling in the diseases like hemiplegia, dementia et.Of course,Further studies are needed to verify our findings.