Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2014, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (11): 1163-1168.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.135319

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Acupuncture at the Taixi (KI3) acupoint activates cerebral neurons in elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment

Shangjie Chen 1, 2, Maosheng Xu 3, Hong Li 4, Jiuping Liang 2, Liang Yin 3, Xia Liu 2, Xinyan Jia 1, Fen Zhu 1, Dan Wang 1, Xuemin Shi 2, Lihua Zhao 5   

  1. 1 Department of Rehabilitation, Baoan Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
    2 Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
    3 Department of Imaging, Baoan Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
    4 School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
    5 College of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
  • Received:2014-05-09 Online:2014-06-12 Published:2014-06-12
  • Contact: Lihua Zhao, M.D., College of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, zhaolh67@163.com.
  • Supported by:

    This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81173354; the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, No. 10451810101005862; a grant from Guangdong Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 20111032, 20132019; the Science and Technology Plan Project of Baoan District, Shenzhen City, No. 200902159.

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Abstract:

Our previous findings have demonstrated that acupuncture at the Taixi (KI3) acupoint in healthy youths can activate neurons in cognitive-related cerebral cortex. Here, we investigated whether acupuncture at this acupoint in elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment can also activate neurons in these regions. Resting state and task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that the pinprick senstation of acupuncture at the Taixi acupoint differed significantly between elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment and healthy elderly controls. Results showed that 20 brain regions were activated in both groups of participants, including the bilateral anterior cingulate gyrus (Brodmann areas [BA] 32, 24), left medial frontal cortex (BA 9, 10, 11), left cuneus (BA 19), left middle frontal gyrus (BA 11), left lingual gyrus (BA 18), right medial frontal gyrus (BA 11), bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47), left superior frontal gyrus (BA11), right cuneus (BA 19, 18), right superior temporal gyrus (BA 38), left subcallosal gyrus (BA 47), bilateral precuneus (BA 19), right medial frontal gyrus (BA 10), right superior frontal (BA 11), left cingulate gyrus (BA 32), left precentral gyrus (BA 6), and right fusiform gyrus (BA 19). These results suggest that acupuncture at the Taixi acupoint in elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment can also activate some brain regions.