Brain Network Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Experimental Acute Low Back Pain: An FMRI Study

Overview

Journal Evid Based Complement Alternat Med

Specialty Rehabilitation Medicine

Date 2015 Jul 11

PMID 26161117

Citations 31

Authors

Yu Shi

Ziping Liu

Shanshan Zhang

Qiang Li

Shigui Guo

Jiangming Yang

Wen Wu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Most neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can significantly modulate brain activation patterns in healthy subjects, while only a few studies have examined clinical pain. In the current study, we combined an experimental acute low back pain (ALBP) model and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the neural mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia. All ALBP subjects first underwent two resting state fMRI scans at baseline and during a painful episode and then underwent two additional fMRI scans, once during acupuncture stimulation (ACUP) and once during tactile stimulation (SHAM) pseudorandomly, at the BL40 acupoint. Our results showed that, compared with the baseline, the pain state had higher regional homogeneity (ReHo) values in the pain matrix, limbic system, and default mode network (DMN) and lower ReHo values in frontal gyrus and temporal gyrus; compared with the OFF status, ACUP yielded broad deactivation in subjects, including nearly all of the limbic system, pain status, and DMN, and also evoked numerous activations in the attentional and somatosensory systems; compared with SHAM, we found that ACUP induced more deactivations and fewer activations in the subjects. Multiple brain networks play crucial roles in acupuncture analgesia, suggesting that ACUP exceeds a somatosensory-guided mind-body therapy for ALBP.

Citing Articles

Resting-state brain activity as a biomarker of chronic pain impairment and a mediator of its association with pain resilience.

You B, Wen H, Jackson T Hum Brain Mapp. 2024; 45(10):e26780.

PMID: 38984446 PMC: 11234141. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26780.

Effect of acupuncture or moxibustion at Acupoints Weizhong (BL40) or Chize (LU5) on the change in lumbar temperature in healthy adults: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial with a 2 × 2 factorial design.

Zheng S, Shen Q, Lyu Z, Tian S, Huang X, Liu Y PLoS One. 2023; 18(10):e0291536.

PMID: 37903112 PMC: 10615297. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291536.

Multimodal non-invasive non-pharmacological therapies for chronic pain: mechanisms and progress.

Shi Y, Wu W BMC Med. 2023; 21(1):372.

PMID: 37775758 PMC: 10542257. DOI: 10.1186/s12916-023-03076-2.

Multimodal physiological sensing for the assessment of acute pain.

Rojas R, Hirachan N, Brown N, Waddington G, Murtagh L, Seymour B Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2023; 4:1150264.

PMID: 37415829 PMC: 10321707. DOI: 10.3389/fpain.2023.1150264.

Coordinate-based (ALE) meta-analysis of acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain.

Ha G, Tian Z, Chen J, Wang S, Luo A, Liu Y Front Neurosci. 2022; 16:906875.

PMID: 35937886 PMC: 9354890. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.906875.

References

Baskin D, MEHLER W, Hosobuchi Y, Richardson D, Adams J, Flitter M . Autopsy analysis of the safety, efficacy and cartography of electrical stimulation of the central gray in humans. Brain Res. 1986; 371(2):231-6. DOI: 10.1016/0006-8993(86)90358-6. View

Keay K, Bandler R . Parallel circuits mediating distinct emotional coping reactions to different types of stress. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2002; 25(7-8):669-78. DOI: 10.1016/s0149-7634(01)00049-5. View

Kenshalo Jr D, Chudler E, Anton F, Dubner R . SI nociceptive neurons participate in the encoding process by which monkeys perceive the intensity of noxious thermal stimulation. Brain Res. 1988; 454(1-2):378-82. DOI: 10.1016/0006-8993(88)90841-4. View

Kong J, Tu P, Zyloney C, Su T . Intrinsic functional connectivity of the periaqueductal gray, a resting fMRI study. Behav Brain Res. 2010; 211(2):215-9. PMC: 2862838. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2010.03.042. View

Hui K, Marina O, Liu J, Rosen B, Kwong K . Acupuncture, the limbic system, and the anticorrelated networks of the brain. Auton Neurosci. 2010; 157(1-2):81-90. PMC: 3754836. DOI: 10.1016/j.autneu.2010.03.022. View

Owen D, Clarke C, Ganapathy S, Prato F, St Lawrence K . Using perfusion MRI to measure the dynamic changes in neural activation associated with tonic muscular pain. Pain. 2009; 148(3):375-386. DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2009.10.003. View

Buckner R, Vincent J . Unrest at rest: default activity and spontaneous network correlations. Neuroimage. 2007; 37(4):1091-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.01.010. View

Hoy D, March L, Brooks P, Woolf A, Blyth F, Vos T . Measuring the global burden of low back pain. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol. 2010; 24(2):155-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.berh.2009.11.002. View

Otti A, Gundel H, Wohlschlager A, Zimmer C, Sorg C, Noll-Hussong M . [Default mode network of the brain. Neurobiology and clinical significance]. Nervenarzt. 2011; 83(1):16, 18-24. DOI: 10.1007/s00115-011-3307-6. View

10.

Chang C, Shyu B . A fMRI study of brain activations during non-noxious and noxious electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve of rats. Brain Res. 2001; 897(1-2):71-81. DOI: 10.1016/s0006-8993(01)02094-7. View

11.

Zhang S, Wu W, Liu Z, Huang G, Guo S, Yang J . Altered regional homogeneity in experimentally induced low back pain: a resting-state fMRI study. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2014; 11:115. PMC: 4237877. DOI: 10.1186/1743-0003-11-115. View

12.

Craig A . Pain mechanisms: labeled lines versus convergence in central processing. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2003; 26:1-30. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.26.041002.131022. View

13.

Yu C, Zhou Y, Liu Y, Jiang T, Dong H, Zhang Y . Functional segregation of the human cingulate cortex is confirmed by functional connectivity based neuroanatomical parcellation. Neuroimage. 2010; 54(4):2571-81. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.018. View

14.

Valet M, Sprenger T, Boecker H, Willoch F, Rummeny E, Conrad B . Distraction modulates connectivity of the cingulo-frontal cortex and the midbrain during pain--an fMRI analysis. Pain. 2004; 109(3):399-408. DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2004.02.033. View

15.

Craig A . Forebrain emotional asymmetry: a neuroanatomical basis?. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005; 9(12):566-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.10.005. View

16.

Feng Y, Bai L, Ren Y, Chen S, Wang H, Zhang W . FMRI connectivity analysis of acupuncture effects on the whole brain network in mild cognitive impairment patients. Magn Reson Imaging. 2012; 30(5):672-82. DOI: 10.1016/j.mri.2012.01.003. View

17.

Zang Y, Jiang T, Lu Y, He Y, Tian L . Regional homogeneity approach to fMRI data analysis. Neuroimage. 2004; 22(1):394-400. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.12.030. View

18.

MAYER D, Wolfle T, Akil H, Carder B, LIEBESKIND J . Analgesia from electrical stimulation in the brainstem of the rat. Science. 1971; 174(4016):1351-4. DOI: 10.1126/science.174.4016.1351. View

19.

Vann S . Re-evaluating the role of the mammillary bodies in memory. Neuropsychologia. 2009; 48(8):2316-27. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.10.019. View

20.

Schoedel A, Zimmermann K, Handwerker H, Forster C . The influence of simultaneous ratings on cortical BOLD effects during painful and non-painful stimulation. Pain. 2007; 135(1-2):131-41. DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2007.05.014. View