New findings of the correlation between acupoints and corresponding brain cortices using functional MRI

Abstract

A preliminary study of the correlation between acupuncture points (acupoints) for the treatment of eye disorders suggested by ancient Oriental literature and the corresponding brain localization for vision described by Western medicine was performed by using functional MRI (fMRI). The vision-related acupoint (VA1) is located in the lateral aspect of the foot, and when acupuncture stimulation is performed there, activation of occipital lobes is seen by fMRI. Stimulation of the eye by directly using light results in similar activation in the occipital lobes by fMRI. The experiment was conducted by using conventional checkerboard 8-Hz light-flash stimulation of the eye and observation of the time-course data. This was followed by stimulation of the VA1 by using the same time-course paradigm as visual light stimulation. Results obtained with 12 volunteers yielded very clean data and very close correlations between visual and acupuncture stimulation. We have also stimulated nonacupoints 2 to 5 cm away from the vision-related acupoints on the foot as a control, and activation in the occipital lobes was not observed. The results obtained demonstrate the correlation between activation of specific areas of brain cortices and corresponding acupoint stimulation predicted by ancient acupuncture literature.

Figure 1

New approach to old acupuncture. Conceptual relationship of therapeutic acupuncture, functional MRI, and the role of the brain.

Figure 2

The vision-related acupoints VA1, VA2, VA3, and VA8. These acupoints are known in the oriental acupuncture literature as BL67 (VA1), BL66 (VA2), BL65 (VA3), and BL60 (VA8), respectively.

Figure 3

Nonacupoint stimulation (control) in comparison with visual and acupoint stimulation. The activation maps of the visual cortex resulting from visual stimulation of the eye and acupuncture stimulation at VA1, and nonacupoint stimulation, respectively (volunteer 1).

Figure 4

Visual and acupuncture stimulation. The activation maps and time-course data of visual and acupuncture stimulation at VA1 (volunteers 6 and 8). (a) The results of visual and acupuncture stimulation of a volunteer of “yin” character. (b) Same as a for “yang” character.

Figure 5

Visual and acupunctural stimulation with different acupoints (VA1–VA8). The activation maps and time-course data of acupuncture stimulation of four different, vision-related acupoints, namely, VA1, VA2, VA3, and VA8. An activation of occipital lobes by visual stimulation is given for reference (volunteer 3).

Figure 6

Visual and acupuncture stimulation of VA1. Comparison of direct visual stimulation of the eye and acupuncture stimulation of vision-related acupoint VA1 for all 12 subjects. The fMRI activation responses, in color, are superimposed on MRI images. Yellow overlays correspond to responses from direct visual stimulation. Red overlays correspond to responses from acupuncture stimulation having a positive correlation with signal intensity, i.e., “yin” character. Blue overlays correspond to responses from acupuncture stimulation having a negative correlation with signal intensity, i.e., “yang” character. All subjects with “red” overlays were judged to have primarily “yin” characters whereas all subjects with “blue” overlays were judged to have primarily “yang” characters.