Imaging Observation of Scalp Acupuncture on Brain Gray Matter Injury in Stroke Patients with Cerebral Infarction / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study features of brain gray matter injury in cerebral infarction patients and intervention of scalp acupuncture by using voxel-based morphology.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 16 cerebral infarction patients were recruited in this study, and assigned to the scalp acupuncture group and the control group, 8 in each group. Another 16 healthy volunteers were recruited as a normal group. All patients received scanning of T1 structure. Images were managed using VBM8 Software package. Difference of the gray matter structure was compared among the scalp acupuncture group, the control group, and the healthy volunteers.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with healthy volunteers, gray matter injury of cerebral infarction patients mainly occurred in 14 brain regions such as cingulate gyrus, precuneus, cuneus, anterior central gyrus, insular lobe, and so on. They were mainly distributed in affected side. Two weeks after treatment when compared with healthy volunteers, gray matter injury of cerebral infarction patients in the scalp acupuncture group still existed in 8 brain regions such as bilateral lingual gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, left cuneus, right precuneus, and so on. New gray matter injury occurred in lingual gyrus and posterior cingulate gyrus. Two weeks after treatment when compared with healthy volunteers, gray matter injury of cerebral infarction patients in the control group existed in 23 brain regions: bilateral anterior cingulum, caudate nucleus, cuneate lobe, insular lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, precuneus, paracentral lobule, superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, lingual gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and so on. New gray matter injury still existed in 9 cerebral regions such as lingual gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and so on.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Brain gray matter structure is widely injured after cerebral infarction. Brain gray matter volume gradually decreased as time went by. Combined use of scalp acupuncture might inhibit the progression of gray matter injury more effectively.</p>

Acupuncture treatment modulates the resting-state functional connectivity of brain regions in migraine patients without aura / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the modulatory effect of acupuncture treatment on the resting-state functional connectivity of brain regions in migraine without aura (MWoA) patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twelve MWoA patients were treated with standard acupuncture treatment for 4 weeks. All MWoA patients received resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning before and after acupuncture treatment. Another 12 normal subjects matched in age and gender were recruited to serve as healthy controls. The changes of restingstate functional connectivity in MWoA patients before and after the acupuncture treatment and those with the healthy controls were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Before acupuncture treatment, the MWoA patients had significantly decreased functional connectivity in certain brain regions within the frontal and temporal lobe when compared with the healthy controls. After acupuncture treatment, brain regions showing decreased functional connectivity revealed significant reduction in MWoA patients compared with before acupuncture treatment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Acupuncture treatment could increase the functional connectivity of brain regions in the intrinsic decreased brain networks in MWoA patients. The results provided further insights into the interpretation of neural mechanisms of acupuncture treatment for migraine.</p>