Spinal effects of acupuncture stimulation assessed by proton density-weighted functional magnetic resonance imaging at 0.2 T

Geng Li, Man Cheuk Ng, Kelvin K. Wong, Keith D. Luk, Edward S. Yang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Signal changes can be detected by proton density-weighted functional imaging in both the brain and the spinal cord. These are attributed to changes in extravascular water proton (signal enhancement by extravascular protons) density during neuronal activation. In this study, we used this technique to detect correlations between acupoint stimulation and neural activity in the spinal cord. Stimulation of acupoints associated with treatment of sensorimotor deficits (LI4 and LI11) was performed on 11 volunteers. During stimulation, 8 of the 11 subjects had consistent functional activations in C6/C7. A bilateral activation pattern was common. Our findings show that acupoint stimulation modulates activity in the spinal cord.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)995-999
Number of pages5
JournalMagnetic Resonance Imaging
Volume23
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2005

Keywords

  • Acupoints
  • BOLD
  • Neural pathway
  • SEEP
  • Spinal cord

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Structural Biology
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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