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Imaging of Acupuncture’s Effects

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Advanced Acupuncture Research: From Bench to Bedside

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Abstract

Acupuncture therapy is a combination of ancient Chinese philosophical ideas and medical practices which has made great contributions to human health. Acupuncture, moxibustion, and other therapeutic means act on special parts of the human body (meridians and acupoints) to achieve the purpose of preventing and treating diseases. Acupuncture is widely used worldwide because of its wide indications, quick effect, simplicity, low cost, and safety. However, the rationale for the clinical effects of acupuncture has not been fully elucidated. Medical imaging is the product of the combination of modern technology and medicine, and it can show the structure and function of tissues and organs in vivo without surgery. Such imaging allows us to study the physiological function of acupuncture acupoints and meridians with objective qualitative and quantitative information, and this will allow us to advance the theoretical study of acupuncture. This chapter summarizes the literature on clinical and laboratory investigative approaches regarding multimodal imaging techniques to visualize the effects of acupuncture on meridians and acupoints.

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Abbreviations

AAV:

Adeno-associated virus

CaM:

Calmodulin

CD31:

Cluster of differentiation 31

ChR2:

Channelrhodopsin-2

CL:

Corpus luteum

CLARITY:

Clear lipid-exchanged acrylamide-hybridized rigid imaging techniques

CUBIC:

Clear unobstructed brain imaging cocktails and computational analysis

Dox:

Doxorubicin

EA:

Electroacupuncture

EEG:

Electroencephalography

fMRI:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

fNIRS:

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

HAMD:

Hamilton Depression Scale

HbO:

Hyperbaric oxygen

ICG:

Indocyanine green

MEG:

Magnetoencephalography

NpHR:

Halo rhodopsin

PAI:

Photoacoustic imaging

PCOS:

Polycystic ovarian syndrome

PFC:

Prefrontal cortex

TCM:

Traditional Chinese medicine

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledged the researchers mentioned in the paper for their assistance in providing images. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 81673766 and 81973945 to Y.F.), the Innovative Research Team of High-level Local Universities in Shanghai, the Development Project of Shanghai Peak Disciplines-Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (20180101 to Y.F.), Shanghai Key Laboratory for Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function (NO. 21DZ2271800), the Project Supported by Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (NO. 2018SHZDZX01), and the Super Postdoctoral program of Fudan University (to K.L.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Kuinyu Lee

  2. Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Yi Feng

  3. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Yi Feng

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  1. Kuinyu Lee
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  2. Yi Feng
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Correspondence to Yi Feng .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Ying Xia

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Lee, K., Feng, Y. (2022). Imaging of Acupuncture’s Effects. In: Xia, Y. (eds) Advanced Acupuncture Research: From Bench to Bedside. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96221-0_6

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