Brain activation and inhibition after acupuncture at Taichong andTaixi：resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging

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 atTaichong （LR3） andTaixi （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 atTaichong andTaixi 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 res-onance imaging, which revealed that the amplitude of low-frequency lfuctuation, 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）, inferi-or frontal gyrus （Brodmann area 44） and the center of the posterior lobe of the cerebellum. The present ifndings indicate that acupuncture atTaichong andTaixi speciifcally promote blood lfow 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.