Observation of Cerebral Activation by Meridian Point Stimulus - Using Functional-MRI

It is said that acupuncture treatments involve sensory stimulating therapy that subjectively conducts stimulus points (meridian points) and stimulus contents (tonification and sedation, getting-qi , etc.) while giving treatment. Recently, it has also been pointed out that the central nervous system is related to the acupuncture reaction mechanism. If these ideas are appropriate, there is a possibility that the differences in the stimulus points and stimulus contents (sensory stimulus differences) cause differences in the reaction of the central nervous system. Therefore, the authors studied (1) how the differences in the stimulus points (hand or leg and left or right) would cause cerebral activities and, (2) how differences of stimulus contents (sense of pain, non-getting-qi, getting-qi) , etc. would cause the cerebral activities, using f-MRI. The former effect differences by stimulus points were that each corresponding cerebral activation was observed in the S1 areas. The latter effect differences by stimulus contents were that the dominant differences in cerebral activation were observed in the response of the central nervous system (S1, superior temporal gyrus, thalamus, gyrus cinguli, parahippocampus gyrus, cerebellum and insula). Most of all, the S1 activation by getting-qi stimulus was bilateral and enormously influenced by the sense of getting-qi.