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Acupuncture treatment modulates the resting-state functional connectivity of brain regions in migraine patients without aura

  • Acupuncture Research
  • Published:
Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the modulatory effect of acupuncture treatment on the resting-state functional connectivity of brain regions in migraine without aura (MWoA) patients.

Methods

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.

Results

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.

Conclusions

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology and Stroke Center, Dongzhimen Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100700, China

    Yong Zhang  (张 勇), Kuang-shi Li  (李匡时), Hong-wei Liu  (刘宏伟), Cai-hong Fu  (付彩红) & Yi Ren  (任 毅)

  2. Department of Acupuncture, Dongzhimen Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100700, China

    Sheng Chen  (陈 晟)

  3. Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Dongzhimen Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100700, China

    Zhong-jian Tan  (谭中建)

Authors
  1. Yong Zhang  (张 勇)
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  2. Kuang-shi Li  (李匡时)
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  3. Hong-wei Liu  (刘宏伟)
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  4. Cai-hong Fu  (付彩红)
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  5. Sheng Chen  (陈 晟)
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  6. Zhong-jian Tan  (谭中建)
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  7. Yi Ren  (任 毅)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi Ren  (任 毅).

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81473667), Beijing Young Talent Program of Beijing Education Committee (No. YETP0823), and the Research Funds of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (No. 2013-JYBZZJS-148, 2014-JYBZZ-XS-142)

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Zhang, Y., Li, Ks., Liu, Hw. et al. Acupuncture treatment modulates the resting-state functional connectivity of brain regions in migraine patients without aura. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 22, 293–301 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-015-2042-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-015-2042-4

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