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Multi-Modality Neuroimaging Study on Neurobiological Mechanisms of Acupuncture pp 1–30Cite as

Early fMRI Studies of Acupuncture

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Abstract

As an ancient therapeutic method, acupuncture has been clinically practiced in Eastern Asia for more than 2000 years. Though acupuncture is used worldwide in recent decades, the underlying biology mechanism is still confusing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which is a noninvasive, safe, and effective imaging procedure, opens a new window to investigate human brain response to acupuncture stimulation. This chapter will induce the early-stage studies of acupuncture by using fMRI. In early acupuncture fMRI studies, most of the researchers focused on the characteristics of acupuncture like specificity of acupoints and deqi sensation and the comparison of brain responses among different needle parameters, such as the stimulation method, depth of the needle, and duration of the needle. However, there are a number of methodological problems in these studies which may directly result in inconsistent even conflict outcomes. So the reliability of the results is questioned. More suitable experimental design for acupuncture, stricter statistics, and high-quality acupuncture fMRI studies are needed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, China

    Wei Qin & Lingmin Jin

  2. CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Beijing, China

    Jie Tian

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  1. Wei Qin
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  2. Lingmin Jin
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  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Beijing, China

    Jie Tian

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Qin, W., Jin, L., Tian, J. (2018). Early fMRI Studies of Acupuncture. In: Tian, J. (eds) Multi-Modality Neuroimaging Study on Neurobiological Mechanisms of Acupuncture. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4914-9_1

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