ArticleNeural regeneration research2015
Brain activation and inhibition after acupuncture at Taichong and Taixi: resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Article in Neural regeneration research, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture treatment of vascular cognitive impairment through peripheral nerve stimulation pathway: a scoping review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review and coordinate-based meta-analysis of fMRI studies on acupuncture at LR 3.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of Acupuncture on Arterial Hypertension and Endothelial Dysfunction: The AHEaD Trial.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2026Trial
- Efficacy of electro-acupuncture in postpartum with diastasis recti abdominis: A randomized controlled clinical trial.Frontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Acupuncture treatment modulates the corticostriatal reward circuitry in major depressive disorder.Journal of psychiatric research · 2017Trial
- Effects of acupuncture on brain functional networks in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2026Article
- Shared and distinct brain activation patterns of acupoints HT7, ST36, and KI4: a task-based fMRI study.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture pretreatment mediates sympathetic nerves to alleviate myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury via CRH neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus.Chinese medicine · 2024Article
- Resting-State fMRI in Studies of Acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Review
- Brain Functional Interaction of Acupuncture Effects in Diarrhea-Dominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Article
- Different Brain Activation after Acupuncture at Combined Acupoints and Single Acupoint in Hypertension Patients: An Rs-fMRI Study Based on ReHo Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2019Article
- Acupuncture Modulates the Cerebello-Thalamo-Cortical Circuit and Cognitive Brain Regions in Patients of Parkinson's Disease With Tremor.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2018Article
- Modulatory effects of acupuncture on brain networks in mild cognitive impairment patients.Neural regeneration research · 2017Article
- Electroacupuncture improves cognitive ability following cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury via CaM-CaMKIV-CREB signaling in the rat hippocampus.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2016Article
- Cerebral Targeting of Acupuncture at Combined Acupoints in Treating Essential Hypertension: An Rs-fMRI Study and Curative Effect Evidence.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Acupuncture can induce changes in the brain. However, the majority of studies to date have focused on a single acupoint at a time. In the present study, we observed activity changes in the brains of healthy volunteers before and after acupuncture at Taichong (LR3) and Taixi (KI3) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Fifteen healthy volunteers underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain 15 minutes before acupuncture, then received acupuncture at Taichong and Taixi using the nail-pressing needle insertion method, after which the needle was retained in place for 30 minutes. Fifteen minutes after withdrawal of the needle, the volunteers underwent a further session of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, which revealed that the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, a measure of spontaneous neuronal activity, increased mainly in the cerebral occipital lobe and middle occipital gyrus (Brodmann area 18/19), inferior occipital gyrus (Brodmann area 18) and cuneus (Brodmann area 18), but decreased mainly in the gyrus rectus of the frontal lobe (Brodmann area 11), inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 44) and the center of the posterior lobe of the cerebellum. The present findings indicate that acupuncture at Taichong and Taixi specifically promote blood flow and activation in the brain areas related to vision, emotion and cognition, and inhibit brain areas related to emotion, attention, phonological and semantic processing, and memory.
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Registered trials
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.