Research on Compensatory and Remodeling Brain Effect Mechanism of Acupuncture Treatment on the M1-Basal Ganglia-Thalamic Circuit in Poststroke Hemiplegia
XU Tianjiao
LU Mengxin
LI Yuanyuan
ZHANG Muzhao
WU Linlu
ZOU Yihuai
Abstract：Objective:To explore the effect of"twelve needles for hands and feet"acupuncture on the M1-basal ganglia-thalamic loop effect connection in patients with poststroke hemiplegia using functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI),and to investigate the specificity of acupoint selection and the mechanism behind brain effect.Methods:Forty-three patients with post-stroke hemiplegia were included as trial group,and twenty-eight healthy individuals were included as the control group.The trial group were divided into a true acupoint group of 23 cases and a sham acupoint group of 20 cases according to the random number table method.Both groups underwent clinical evaluation and magnetic resonance imaging.The true acupoint group received"twelve needles for hands and feet"acupuncture,while the sham acupoint group received acupuncture 0.5 cun away from the meridian point.Regions of interest included the bilateral anterior central gyrus(PreCG),amygdala(AMYG),caudate nucleus(CAU),putamen(PUT),globus pallidus(PAL),and thalamus(THA).Changes in Granger causality(GC)and differences in scale scores were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.Results:Before the intervention,the GC from AMYG.R → PreCG.R,PreCG.R → AMYG.R,CAU.L → AMYG.R,AMYG.R → CAU.L,and PAL.R → CAU.R in the trial group was stronger than in the control group.Before the intervention,the GC from PreCG.L → PreCG.R,PAL.L → PreCG.R,AMYG.R → PUT.L,PreCG.R →PAL.L,and CAU.L → THA.R in the trial group was weaker than in the control group(P＜0.05).After the intervention,in the true acupoint group,the GC from AMYG.R → CAU.L,PAL.R → CAU.R,and AMYG.R →PAL.R was stronger than in the control group.After the intervention,in the true acupoint group,the GC from PreCG.L → PreCG.R and PUT.L → AMYG.R was weaker than in the control group(P＜0.05).After the intervention,in the sham acupoint group,the GC from PAL.R → CAU.R and AMYG.L → THA.R was stronger than in the control group,while the GC from PreCG.L → PreCG.R,AMYG.L → PAL.L,and AMYG.R →THA.R was weaker than in the control group(P＜0.05).Conclusions:The right motor circuit tends to preferentially compensate in the early stages of stroke onset,showing a lateralization tendency.Bilateral basal ganglia remodeling and regulation of excitatory-inhibitory balance in the thalamus may serve as the basis for adaptive motor control after unilateral motor circuit injury.Acupuncture at meridian acupoints stimulates more brain activity than at non-meridian acupoints,indicating acupoint specificity.
Keywords：poststroke hemiplegiafunctional magnetic resonance imagingGranger causalityacupuncturebrain effect mechanism
Publication Date：2025-02-04
Online Publishing Date：2026-05-22(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 184-190 )