Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27693978›Full record

Trial reportJournal of psychiatric research2017

Acupuncture treatment modulates the corticostriatal reward circuitry in major depressive disorder.

Zengjian Wang, Xiaoyun Wang, Jian Liu, Jun Chen, Xian Liu, Guangning Nie, Kristen Jorgenson, Ki Cheul Sohn, Ruiwang Huang, Ming Liu and 2 more

Erratum issuedOpen access · greenAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of psychiatric research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 65 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
65citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
4.3field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

65 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. The efficacy and cerebral mechanism of intradermal acupuncture for major depressive disorder: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
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  13. Differential Improvement in Memory and Executive Functions: Personalized Exercise versus Acupuncture for Mild Cognitive Impairment in Stroke-prone Individuals.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
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5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Zengjian WangCenter for the Study of Applied Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Xiaoyun WangThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China.
Jian LiuThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China.
Jun ChenThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China.
Xian LiuThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China.
Guangning NieThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China.
Kristen JorgensonDepartment of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Ki Cheul SohnHospital of Catholic University of Daegu, 3056-6 Daemyeong 4 Nam-gu, Daegu 705-718, South Korea.
Ruiwang HuangCenter for the Study of Applied Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
Ming LiuCenter for the Study of Applied Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
Bo LiuThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China. Electronic address: lbgdhtcm@163.com.
Jian KongDepartment of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA. Electronic address: kongj@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu.
Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine · CNSouth China Normal University · CNHarvard University · USCatholic University of Daegu · KR

Funding

The Role of Context Effect in Acupuncture Treatment of Low Back/J.KongP01AT006663 · NCCIH · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI HIRSCHTICK, RANDY L, ROSEN, BRUCE R · 2011 to 2017
$10.0M
Neuromodulation of placebo and nocebo effectsR01AT008563 · NCCIH · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI KONG, JIAN · 2015 to 2019
$3.9M
The Neurobiology of Placebo and Nocebo Effects: A Brain Imaging StudyR01AT006364 · NCCIH · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI KONG, JIAN · 2011 to 2015
$3.6M
Neural dynamics of directly and indirectly conditioned placebo/nocebo effectR21AT008707 · NCCIH · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI KONG, JIAN · 2016 to 2017
$479k
NCCIH NIH HHS P01 AT006663NCCIH NIH HHS R01 AT006364NCCIH NIH HHS R01 AT008563NCCIH NIH HHS R21 AT008707
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common disorder with a high prevalence and significant social and economic impacts. Nevertheless, the treatment of MDD is far from satisfactory. Acupuncture treatment has emerged as a promising method for treating MDD. However, the neural mechanism by which acupuncture reduces depressive symptoms is not fully understood. Studies have shown that the corticostriatal reward circuitry is associated with the pathophysiology of MDD; thus, we investigated the corticostriatal resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) before and after real and sham acupuncture treatments combined with the antidepressant fluoxetine. Forty-six female major depressive patients were assigned to either verum acupuncture plus fluoxetine (n = 22) or sham acupuncture plus fluoxetine (n = 24) treatment for 8 weeks, and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected before the first and after the last treatment sessions. The results showed that compared with sham acupuncture, the verum acupuncture group showed: (1) significantly increased rsFC between inferior ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex, ventral rostral putamen and amygdala/parahippocampus, as well as dorsal caudate and middle temporal gyrus; (2) significantly decreased rsFC between right ventral rostral putamen and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and right dorsal caudate and bilateral cerebellar tonsil. The increased rsFC between the inferior ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex, ventral rostral putamen and amygdala/parahippocampus were significantly positively associated with decreased clinical scores (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale and Self-Rating Depression Scale scores) at the end of the eight-week treatment. Our findings suggest that acupuncture may achieve treatment effects by modulating the corticostriatal reward/motivation circuitry in MDD patients.

Indexed as

Acupuncture TherapyRewardAdultAntidepressive Agents, Second-GenerationCerebral CortexCombined Modality TherapyCorpus StriatumFemaleFluoxetineHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMajor Depressive DisorderMiddle AgedNeural PathwaysPsychiatric Status Rating ScalesRestAntidepressive Agents, Second-GenerationFluoxetineAcupunctureDepressionFluoxetineResting state functional connectivityRewardStriatum

Identifiers

PMID27693978
PMCPMC5125902
OpenAlexW2520169676

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.