A PET-CT study on the specificity of acupoints through acupuncture treatment in migraine patients

Jie Yang,Fang Zeng,Xuguang Liu,Fanrong Liang,Wei Qin,Wenzhong Song,Yue Feng,Ji Chen,Li Fang,Hongjun Xie

doi:10.1186/1472-6882-12-123

Abstract

BackgroundIn the field of acupuncture research, the topic of acupoint specificity has received increasing attention, but no unified conclusion has been reached on whether or not acupoint specificity exists. Furthermore, the majority of previous acupuncture neuroimaging studies have been performed using healthy subjects. In this study, patients with migraine were used to investigate acupoint specificity.MethodsThirty patients with migraine were enrolled and randomized into three groups: Traditional Acupuncture Group (TAG), Control Acupuncture Group (CAG), and Migraine Group (MG). The TAG was treated by acupuncture stimulation at Waiguan (TE5), Yang Lingquan (GB34), and Fengchi (GB20). The CAG was treated at Touwei (ST8), Pianli (LI6), and Zusanli (ST36). The MG received no treatment. Positron emission tomography with computed tomography (PET-CT) was used to test for differences in brain activation between the TAG and CAG versus MG, respectively.ResultsTraditional acupuncture treatment was more effective for pain reduction than control acupuncture treatment. The TAG showed higher brain metabolism than the MG in the middle temporal cortex (MTC), orbital frontal cortex (OFC), insula, middle frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, post-cingulate cortex (PCC), the precuneus, and the middle cingulate cortex (MCC). Metabolism decreased in the parahippocampus, hippocampus, fusiform gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and cerebellum in the TAG compared with the MG. In the CAG, metabolism increased compared with the MG in the MTC, supratemporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and MCC, whereas metabolism decreased in the cerebellum.ConclusionsAcupuncture stimulation of different points on similar body regions in migraine patients reduced pain and induced different levels of cerebral glucose metabolism in pain-related brain regions. These findings may support the functional specificity of migraine- treatment-related acupoint.Trial registrationThe number of our clinical trial registration is: ChiCTR-TRC-11001813, and the protocol and inclusion criteria have already been registered as ChiCTR-TRC-11001813.

Highlights

In the field of acupuncture research, the topic of acupoint specificity has received increasing attention, but no unified conclusion has been reached on whether or not acupoint specificity exists
Effect of acupuncture on pain The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of pain intensity was significantly reduced in the Traditional Acupuncture Group (TAG) (P = 0.0005) and Control Acupuncture Group (CAG) (P = 0.008) groups after AS compared with before
positron emission tomography (PET) results In the TAG, metabolism increased compared with the Migraine Group (MG) in the middle temporal cortex (MTC), orbital frontal cortex (OFC), insula, middle frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus, and middle cingulate cortex (MCC)

Summary

Introduction

In the field of acupuncture research, the topic of acupoint specificity has received increasing attention, but no unified conclusion has been reached on whether or not acupoint specificity exists. The majority of previous acupuncture neuroimaging studies have been performed using healthy subjects. Patients with migraine were used to investigate acupoint specificity. The topic of acupoint specificity has received increasing attention. Significant neuroimaging evidence of acupoint specificity of the vision-related acupoints was provided by Cho et al [5]. The majority of previous acupuncture neuroimaging studies have used healthy subjects. Only a few neuroimaging studies have reported on the response to acupuncture in patients with disorders [10,11,12]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion