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Electroacupuncture Stimulation of Language-Implicated Acupoint Tongli (HT 5) in Healthy Subjects: An fMRI Evaluation Study

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Abstract

Objective

To explore brain activations associated with electroacupuncture simulation at Tongli (HT 5) and its comparison with brain activations during picture-naming task.

Methods

Twenty healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. Half of them received electroacupuncture stimulation at HT 5 (ACUP group) and the other half of them received stimulation at a nonmeridian sham acupoint (SHAM group). All subjects performed picture-naming task. Each subject finished two runs of functional magnetic resonance imaging examinations in one session and picture-naming task was performed before electroacupuncture stimulation. Subjective brain activations were obtained using generalized linear model and inter-group analyses were performed after that.

Results

The electroacupuncture stimulation at HT 5 induced significant brain activations in both the anterior and posterior language regions, including the left inferior frontal gyrus, which was in consistent with activations induced during picture-naming task. Group analysis showed a tendency of increased activation of ACUP group in left inferior frontal gyrus compared with SHAM group (P<0.05 FDR corrected).

Conclusions

Electroacupuncture treatment at the acupoint HT 5 has modulation effect on typical language-implicated brain regions in healthy subjects, which provides supporting evidence for beneficial effects of needling at HT 5 for recovery of language function in aphasia.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Neural Engineering, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518000, Guangdong Province, China

    Lin-ling Li, Xiao-wu Liu & Yun-hai Qiu

  2. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Sixth People’s Hospital in Shenzhen (Nanshan Hospital), Shenzhen, 518000, Guangdong Province, China

    Fang Wu, Dong-chang Tong, Li-ping Ye, Hong-xing Tao & Wan-zhang Yang

  3. Engineering Research Center of Molecular and Neuro Imaging Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710000, China

    Peng Liu

Authors
  1. Lin-ling Li
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  2. Xiao-wu Liu
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  3. Fang Wu
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  4. Dong-chang Tong
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  5. Li-ping Ye
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  6. Hong-xing Tao
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  7. Peng Liu
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  9. Wan-zhang Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wan-zhang Yang.

Additional information

Supported by the Hundred Talents Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y14408), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (No. JC201005270293A, JC201104220257A and 201101017), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81471738)

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Cite this article

Li, Ll., Liu, Xw., Wu, F. et al. Electroacupuncture Stimulation of Language-Implicated Acupoint Tongli (HT 5) in Healthy Subjects: An fMRI Evaluation Study. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 24, 822–829 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-017-2924-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-017-2924-8

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