The Research on Acupuncture Anesthesia Based on fMRI

Jijun Tong, Jin Liu, Yingying Lv, Huade Chen

College of Information, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
The Third Clinical Medicine College, Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang.

DOI: 10.4236/eng.2013.510B112                

Abstract

Pain is one of the most important sensations in daily life,andthe traditional Chinese medicine such as acupuncture has shown great potential in pain relief. The principle research of acupuncture anesthesia has been the focus of modern science. In this paper the noninvasive brain imaging technique fMRI (functional magnetic resonanceimaging) was used. Eight volunteers were enrolled and received pain stimulation,andthe brain response under TEAS (transcutaneous elec-trical acupoint stimulation) and manual needle stimulation were observed. The research finds pain has specific sensation region and the acupuncture anesthesia is realized through modulating the corresponding brain function region, but the manual needle has wider brain response region than TEAS.

Keywords

Acupuncture; Anesthesia; fMRI

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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