ArticlePloS one2012
Altered small-world efficiency of brain functional networks in acupuncture at ST36: a functional MRI study.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- The modulation effect of longitudinal acupuncture on resting state functional connectivity in knee osteoarthritis patients.Molecular pain · 2015Trial
- Acupuncture modulates cortical thickness and functional connectivity in knee osteoarthritis patients.Scientific reports · 2014Trial
- Prolonged repeated acupuncture stimulation induces habituation effects in pain-related brain areas: an FMRI study.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Acupuncture for Post-Stroke Cognitive Impairment: Mechanisms and Clinical Evidence (2020-2025).Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Review
- Acupuncture for cognitive functions in post-COVID-19 condition: study protocol of a three-armed, randomized controlled trial with multimodal MRI.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Shared and distinct brain activation patterns of acupoints HT7, ST36, and KI4: a task-based fMRI study.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture modulates abnormal brain connectivity after ischemia reperfusion injury in rats: A graph theory-based approach.Brain and behavior · 2024Article
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging providing the brain effect mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for depression.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Review
- Electroencephalogram Analysis of Magnetic Stimulation at Different Acupoints.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Peripheral ERK modulates acupuncture-induced brain neural activity and its functional connectivity.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Using Nonlinear Dynamics and Multivariate Statistics to Analyze EEG Signals of Insomniacs with the Intervention of Superficial Acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Article
- Acupuncture Modulates Disrupted Whole-Brain Network after Ischemic Stroke: Evidence Based on Graph Theory Analysis.Neural plasticity · 2020Article
- Mechanism of Cerebralcare Granule® for Improving Cognitive Function in Resting-State Brain Functional Networks of Sub-healthy Subjects.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2017Article
- Brain Connectivity Patterns Dissociate Action of Specific Acupressure Treatments in Fatigued Breast Cancer Survivors.Frontiers in neurology · 2017Article
- Functional Connectivity Modulation by Acupuncture in Patients with Bell's Palsy.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2016Article
- The Status of the Quality Control in Acupuncture-Neuroimaging Studies.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2016Review
- Brain activation and inhibition after acupuncture at Taichong and Taixi: resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.Neural regeneration research · 2015Article
- Neuroimaging and Neuromonitoring Effects of Electro and Manual Acupuncture on the Central Nervous System: A Literature Review and Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2015Review
- Acupuncture on GB34 activates the precentral gyrus and prefrontal cortex in Parkinson's disease.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2014Article
- Connectomics: a new direction in research to understand the mechanism of acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2014Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcupuncture in humans can produce clinical effects via the central nervous system. However, the neural substrates of acupuncture's effects remain largely unknown.
resultsWe utilized functional MRI to investigate the topological efficiency of brain functional networks in eighteen healthy young adults who were scanned before and after acupuncture at the ST36 acupoints (ACUP) and its sham point (SHAM). Whole-brain functional networks were constructed by thresholding temporal correlations matrices of ninety brain regions, followed by a graph theory-based analysis. We showed that brain functional networks exhibited small-world attributes (high local and global efficiency) regardless of the order of acupuncture and stimulus points, a finding compatible with previous studies of brain functional networks. Furthermore, the brain networks had increased local efficiency after ACUP stimulation but there were no significant differences after SHAM, indicating a specificity of acupuncture point in coordinating local information flow over the whole brain. Moreover, significant (P<0.05, corrected by false discovery rate approach) effects of only acupuncture point were detected on nodal degree of the left hippocampus (higher nodal degree at ACUP as compared to SHAM). Using an uncorrected P<0.05, point-related effects were also observed in the anterior cingulate cortex, frontal and occipital regions while stimulation-related effects in various brain regions of frontal, parietal and occipital cortex regions. In addition, we found that several limbic and subcortical brain regions exhibited point- and stimulation-related alterations in their regional homogeneity (P<0.05, uncorrected).
conclusionsOur results suggest that acupuncture modulates topological organization of whole-brain functional brain networks and the modulation has point specificity. These findings provide new insights into neuronal mechanism of acupuncture from the perspective of functional integration. Further studies would be interesting to apply network analysis approaches to study the effects of acupuncture treatments on brain disorders.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.