Acupuncturing Taichong point for regulating the brain function of depression patients:resting-state fMRI study

Objective: To explore the changes of cerebral activity pre and after acupuncturing Taichong point.Methods: 26 patients with first-episode moderate depression diagnosed by DSM-IV diagnostic standard and 13 healthy volunteers were collected.Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired pre and after acupuncture by 3.0 T MRI instrument,analyzed by fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctions(fALFF) and functional connectivity analysis.The results of the two groups were tested by using paired t-test.Results: Compared with data scanned prior to acupuncture,fALFF value of post-acupuncture decreased significantly in right frontal lobe of control group,and in right superior frontal gyrus,right middle frontal gyrus,left superior frontal gyrus,bilateral inferior partietal lobule,right precuneus of depression group.The left anterior cingulate as seed had increased functional connectivity in left medial frontal gyrus,right superior frontal gyrus,right temporal lobe,left posterior cingulated,bilateral parietal lobe and bilateral caudate of depression group.Conclusion: Acupuncturing Taichong point can regulate the cerebral activity in several brain areas and some of them correlated with emotion,which may be the mechanism of acupuncture treatment for depression.