ArticleFrontiers in neurology2025
Shared and distinct brain activation patterns of acupoints HT7, ST36, and KI4: a task-based fMRI study.
Article in Frontiers in neurology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Electroacupuncture improves neurocognitive impairment induced by chronic sleep deprivation: an experimental study based on hippocampal neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Article
- Localization of brain networks activated by acupuncture at anatomically adjacent acupoints in healthy participants: neuroimaging evidence and implications for migraine and stroke.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Objective: We aimed to investigate the shared and distinct of brain responses to manual acupuncture at HT7, ST36, and KI4. Methods: Sixteen healthy participants receiving acupuncture at HT7, 19 at ST36, and 16 at KI4. All subjects experienced deqi sensation without severe pain during the acupuncture sessions. Task-functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed to explore the common and specific brain activation networks. The activation networks were further decoded for functional characterization and analyzed for network components. Results: We found convergence deactivation in the left cerebellar crus II across all three acupoints. Additionally, specific patterns of deactivated brain network were observed: the left superior occipital gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule was predominately deactivated for the HT7, the left cerebellar Crus I and right middle occipital gyrus was primarily deactivated for the ST36, and the posterior cerebellum was mainly deactivated for the KI4. They were all involved in the default, attentional, and visual networks. In addition, the control network was also related to HT7, the limbic network to ST36, and the salient network to KI4. These functional networks were linked to spatial vision and cognition, with HT7 and ST36 also influencing emotional processing. Conclusions: All three acupoints caused shared deactivation in the left cerebellar Crus II, highlighting it as a significant region of neural convergence in acupuncture's brain modulation. HT7 and ST36 jointly influenced emotional processing, while KI4 targeted pain-cognition pathways. These findings support "acupoint-effect specificity" and guide clinical applications.
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