Cao, G

Huang, L

Li, G

Liu, SR

Ma, Q

Shen, GG

Wong, KK

Yang, ES

HKU Scholars Hub

Title Use of functional MRI to evaluate correlation between acupointsand the somatic sensory cortex activitiesAuthor(s) Li, G; Wong, KK; Huang, L; Liu, SR; Cao, G; Shen, GG; Yang, ES;Ma, QCitationInternational Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 9thScientific Meeting & Exhibition, Glasgow, UK, 23-27 April 2001,p. 1326Issued Date 2001URL http://hdl.handle.net/10722/98938Rights This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med 9 (2001) 1326Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med 9 (2001) 1326Use of Functional MRI to Evaluate correlation Between Acupoints and the Somatic Sensory Cortex ActivitiesG LI1, KK Wong1, L Huang2, SR Liu2, G Cao3, GG Shen1, ES Yang1, QY Ma11The Jockey Club MRI Engineering Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, HKSAR; 2Medical Imaging Centre of The FirstAffilaited Hospital of Medical College, Jinan University, ; 3GE Medical Systems Asia, ;IntroductionAs a therapy for functional diseases, acupuncture is being increasinglyaccepted even though the mechanism of this therapy is yet to be fullyexplained. Recently, using functional MRI (fMRI) to evaluate thecorrelation between acupoints and some of the brain cortices has beenreported [1-4]. But so far there has been no report on the correlationbetween acupoints and motor cortex. This work uses fMRI to studysomatic sensory cortex activation produced by acupuncturestimulation, which is related to the somatic sensory cortex, and therelated mechanism of acupuncture.Materails and MethodsEighty-eight right-handed healthy volunteers aged 18-45 wereexamined using a quadrature head coil on 1.5 T system. After sagittalspin-echo localiser images were acquired, 16 coronal slices placedparallel to the commisura anterior-commisura posterior (AC-CP) lineof the fMRI was performed using single-shot gradient-echo (GE-EPI)pulse sequence with TR, 3000 ms; TE, 60 ms; 64 X 128; FOV, 24 X24cm; slice thickness, 4.0 mm without inter-slice gap; multi-phase andsingle excitation. The 36-second activation period was alternated witha 36-second rest period. First, fMRI was performed with no meridianand no acupoint as control groups in Fig.1(a).The functional MRI was then repeated with electro-acupuncture with2Hz separately at the following acupoint groups as shown in table 1.Finally, T1-weighted 3D images of the whole brain were acquired forthe anatomical image of the major interest regions. All data wereanalyzed on the software package of SPM99b (Institute of NeurologyWellcome Dept of Cognitive Neurology).ResultsElectro-acupuncture stimulation of groups of acupoints – ST 36,GB34, GB35 and GB39; and GB34, GB35, GB37 and GB38 (Fig.1b)– elicited signal increases in the somatic sensory cortices of the toe andfoot in Fig. 2. Signal increases in the somatic sensory cortices of thehand and arm were elicited by electro-acupuncture stimulation ofgroups of acupoints – (LI4 and LI9), (LI9 and LI14), (LI10 and LI15)and (LI10 and LI13) in Fig. 3. No signal increases in the somaticsensory cortex can be found in the control groups.Fig.2 Combined fMRI signal increases in Somatosensory cortices(11 volunteers) created by electro-acupuncture stimulation atGB34, GB35 GB39 and ST36.Fig.3 Combined fMRI signal increases in somatosensory cortices(7 volunteers) created by electro-acupuncture stimulation at LI4and LI11.Discussion and ConclusionThis present study demonstrates the correlation between diseaserelated acupoints and the brain function. The results demonstrated thatsomatic sensory cortex and dysfunction of motor cortex are related toacupoints. Acupuncture has a potential to treat some functionaldisorder of motor cortex.Acknowledgement: Financial support was provided by The HongKong Jockey Club Charities Trust and Hong Kong UniversityFoundation. We thank GE Medical Systems Asia for the technicalsupport.References1. Cho ZH et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1998;95:2670-2673.2. Hui KKS et al., Human Brain Mapping 2000;9:13-25.3. Wu MT et al., Radiology 1999;212:133-141.4. Wu MT et al., Neuroimage 1997;5(4), part 2 of 4 parts.5. Talairach J et al., A Coplanar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain,Thieme, New York 1988.

Use of functional MRI to evaluate correlation between acupoints and the somatic sensory cortex activities

Use of functional MRI to evaluate correlation between acupoints and the somatic sensory cortex activities

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