Partly Separated Activations in the Spatial Distribution between de-qi and Sharp Pain during Acupuncture Stimulation: An fMRI-Based Study

• Published in: Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine Vol. 2012; no. 2012; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Tian, Jie, Qin, Wei, von Deneen, Karen M., Yang, Yang, Jin, Lingmin, Zhu, Yuanqiang, Sun, Jinbo, Gong, Qiyong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 01.01.2012; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Brain mapping; Brain research; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences; Pain; Spatial distribution; Stimulation
• ISSN: 1741-427X; 1741-4288; 1741-4288
• DOI: 10.1155/2012/934085

Nowadays, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become one of the most important ways to explore the central mechanism of acupuncture. Among these studies, activations around the somatosensory-related brain network had the most robust blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses. However, due to the insufficient control of the subjective sensations during acupuncture stimulation, whether these robust activations reflected the pattern of de-qi, sharp pain, or mixed (de-qi + sharp pain) sensations was largely unknown. The current study recruited 50 subjects and grouped them into two groups according to whether he/she experienced sharp pain during acupuncture stimulation to give a definite answer to the aforesaid question. Our results indicated that BOLD responses associated with de-qi during acupuncture stimulation at ST36 were activation dominated. Furthermore, both the quantitative and qualitative differences of BOLD responses between de-qi and mixed sensations evoked by acupuncture stimulation were significant. The pattern of BOLD responses of sharp pain might be partly separated from that of de-qi in the spatial distribution. Therefore, we proposed that in order to explore the specific central mechanism of acupuncture, subjects with sharp pain should be excluded from those with only de-qi.