Acupuncture Produces Central Activations in Pain Regions

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 60 - 66
• Main Authors: Biella, Gabriele, Sotgiu, Maria Luisa, Pellegata, Giulio, Paulesu, Eraldo, Castiglioni, Isabella, Fazio, Ferruccio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-07-2001; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Acupuncture Points; Adult; anterior cingulus; Brain Mapping; Central nervous system; Cerebellum; Cerebellum - physiology; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Chronic pain; Frontal gyrus; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Gyrus Cinguli - physiology; human; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; inferior frontal gyrus; insulae; Male; medial frontal gyrus; Needles; Pain; Pain Threshold - physiology; positron emission tomography; Reference Values; superior frontal gyrus; Tomography, Emission-Computed; acupuncture; pain; inferior frontal gyrus; insulae; positron emission tomography; superior frontal gyrus; human; anterior cingulus; cerebellum; medial frontal gyrus
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2001.0798

Acupuncture is largely used for pain control in several pathological conditions. Its effects on the central nervous system are not well defined. We investigated the effect of the application of acupuncture to 13 normal subjects (males, 21–32 years). H215O bolus PET scans were read before the application of the needles (Rest, R) and after 25 min of needle insertion. Data were acquired by scanning in 3-D mode. The acupuncture application, true acupuncture (TA), was alternated to a placebo needle application (PA) in two different sequences (seven and six subjects, respectively), either R,PA,R, TA or R,TA,R,PA, a period of 15 min being left after every first TA or PA to allow for the recovery of basal conditions. Here we show that classic acupuncture activates the left Anterior Cingulus, the Insulae bilaterally, the Cerebellum bilaterally, the left Superior Frontal Gyrus, and the right Medial and Inferior Frontal Gyri. Most of the activated areas are shared with areas activated in acute and chronic pain states as described in the literature. Thus acupuncture appears to act by activating areas also involved in pain. This indicates that acupuncture could relief pain by unbalancing the equilibrium of distributed pain-related central networks.