Acupuncture-Neuroimaging Research Trends over Past Two Decades: A Bibliometric Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To identify topics attracting growing research attention as well as frontier trends of acupuncture-neuroimaging research over the past two decades. METHODS: This paper reviewed data in the published literature on acupuncture neuroimaging from 2000 to 2020, which was retrieved from the Web of Science database. CiteSpace was used to analyze the publication years, countries, institutions, authors, keywords, co-citation of authors, journals, and references. RESULTS: A total of 981 publications were included in the final review. The number of publications has increased in the recent 20 years accompanied by some fluctuations. Notably, the most productive country was China, while Harvard University ranked first among institutions in this field. The most productive author was Tian J with the highest number of articles (50), whereas the most co-cited author was Hui KKS (325). Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (92) was the most prolific journal, while Neuroimage was the most co-cited journal (538). An article written by Hui KKS (2005) exhibited the highest co-citation number (112). The keywords "acupuncture" (475) and "electroacupuncture" (0.10) had the highest frequency and centrality, respectively. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) ranked first with the highest citation burst (6.76). CONCLUSION: The most active research topics in the field of acupuncture-neuroimaging over the past two decades included research type, acupoint specificity, neuroimaging methods, brain regions, acupuncture modality, acupoint specificity, diseases and symptoms treated, and research type. Whilst research frontier topics were "nerve regeneration", "functional connectivity", "neural regeneration", "brain network", "fMRI" and "manual acupuncture".

[Effect of acupuncture on hypothalamic functional connectivity in patients with premature ova-rian insufficiency based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the differences in functional connectivity(FC) between the hypothalamus and whole brain regions in patients with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and healthy volunteers based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and investigate the mechanism of acupuncture on treatment of POI. METHODS: Twelve POI patients were recruited to the acupuncture group and 12 healthy volunteers to the control group. Patients in the acupuncture group received acupuncture at two groups of acupoints alternatively, including Baihui (GV20), Zhongwan (CV12), Shenting (GV24), Shenshu (BL23), Ciliao（BL32） and so on, 30 min once time, 3 times per week for 12 weeks. The state of patients was evaluated by modified Kupperman Index (KI) and self-rating anxiety scale (SAS). Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) were tested by microparticle-based chemiluminescence. B ultrasonography was used to detect the antral follicle count (AFC). Meanwhile, POI patients and healthy volunteers underwent the rs-fMRI examination before and after acupuncture treatment and after enrollment, respectively. With hypothalamus as the region of interest, the differences in FC between the hypothalamus and other brain regions in POI patients and healthy volunteers and the changes of FC between the hypothalamus and whole brain regions in POI patients before and after acupuncture were observed. RESULTS: The SAS and KI scores of pre-treatment POI patients were higher than those in the control group （P<0.01）.In compa-rison with those pre-treatment, FSH, LH, and SAS and KI scores of POI patients decreased after treatment, while AFC increased (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the FC of the left hypothalamus with left central sulcus, right middle occipital gyrus, and left paracentral lobule increased, but decreased with left globus pallidus of the lenticular nucleus in POI patients. Furthermore, the FC of the right hypothalamus with the left hippocampus, the left para-central lobule, and the right central sulcus increased, while the FC between the right hypothalamus and the right superior frontal gyrus decreased (P<0.05). For the acupuncture group, compared with the conditions before treatment, the FC of the right hypothalamus with the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left insula, and right inferior frontal gyrus was strengthened, but weakened with the left gyrus rectus (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The abnormal FC between the hypothalamus and whole brain regions may be one of the central pathological factors of POI. Acupuncture can improve the ovarian function and clinical symptoms of patients with POI, which may be related to its effect in regulating the FC between the hypothalamus and multiple brain regions.