IMR Press / JIN / Volume 18 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin.2019.01.126
Open Access Original Research
Cerebral cortex functional networks of magnetic stimulation at acupoints along the pericardium meridian
Show Less
1 State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligence of Electrical Equipment, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300130, China
2 Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Field and Electrical Apparatus Reliability of Hebei Province, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300130, China
*Correspondence: yinning@hebut.edu.cn (Ning Yin)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2019, 18(1), 79–85; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin.2019.01.126
Submitted: 7 December 2018 | Accepted: 26 March 2019 | Published: 30 March 2019
Copyright: © 2019 Dai et al. Published by IMR press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
Abstract

The coordinated regulating mechanism of magnetic stimulation at acupoints along the pericardium meridian was studied by cerebral cortical functional networks. Electroencephalogram signals of 14 subjects (eight males and six females) were recorded in resting state and following magnetic stimulation at Neiguan and Daling acupoints along the pericardium meridian. The corresponding cortical functional networks were constructed and analyzed by group independent component analysis, standard low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography, short-time Fourier transform, and complex network theory. Results showed that during magnetic stimulation at Daling and Neiguan acupoints, the functional connections of the nodes in the brain areas associated with movement respectively decreased by 7.3% and 19.9%, and the functional connections of the nodes in brain areas associated with advanced cognitive functions such as emotion, memory and language respectively increased by 24.9% and 18.8%. Changes of topological structure were similarly related to the efficacy of acupoints along the pericardium meridian. Magnetic stimulation also caused different topological changes consistent with the therapeutic function of specific acupoint. This study provided new evidence revealing mechanisms of brain functional integration and network synergy in the acupoint stimulation pathway.

Keywords
Acupuncture
pericardium meridian
acupoint
magnetic stimulation
cerebral cortex functional network
Figures
Figure 1.
Share
Back to top