The role of insula-cerebellum connection underlying aversive regulation with acupuncture
Date
2018Journal
Molecular PainPublisher
SAGE Publications Inc.Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Acupuncture at pericardium 6 (PC6) shows a consistently positive efficacy in nausea response suggested by consensus expert guidelines. Nausea encompasses aversive symptom as well as strong emotional components. Disgust is a subjective emotion of uneasy commonly accompanying with a physiological response that is accompanied by strong visceral sensations (e.g., nausea). Understanding the brain circuitry by which acupuncture influences the disgust emotion may further elucidate the modulation effect of acupuncture on aversive experience. In the present study, a well-established aversive conditioning model on healthy subjects was combined with acupuncture intervention at PC6, as well as different acupoints (both local PC7 and distant GB37) as separate controls, to investigate the brain network involved aversive regulation with acupuncture; 48 healthy subjects were enrolled and randomized into four parallel groups: group 1 received disgust-induced (DI) stimuli only; groups 2, 3, and 4 received acupuncture at three single acupoints separately prior to the DI. Disgust sensations were rated at baseline and following disgust stimuli. Acupuncture PC6 can induce significant attenuations in disgust sensations than that of no intervention and acupuncture at other acupoints. Neuroimaging further showed that increased causal interaction strength between the cerebellum (nodulus) and insula can predict greater attenuations in aversive experiences. We also found evidence for radical reorganizations of local stronger casual interaction patterns to disgust-induced brain responses targeted by acupuncture at different acupoints. This study provided the brain substrate for acupuncture on aversion modulation. The coupling between the cerebellum (nodulus) and insula supported interoception system and vestibular control which provided the specific neural basis. Copyright The Author(s) 2018.Sponsors
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81571752, 81771914, 81473667, and 81072773), National key research and development plan of China (2016YFC0100300), Shaanxi Nova Program (2014KJXX-34), and Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2016A020215202).Keyword
Acupunctureantiemetic effect
casual interaction
disgust regulation
insula-cerebellum
interoception system
vestibular control
Identifier to cite or link to this item
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85055091750&doi=10.1177%2f1744806918783457&partnerID=40&md5=84f0084d13f4733fbbc255a68ca16df0; http://hdl.handle.net/10713/9702ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1177/1744806918783457
Scopus Count
Collections
Related articles
- Neural specificity of acupuncture stimulation at pericardium 6: evidence from an FMRI study.
- Authors: Bai L, Yan H, Li L, Qin W, Chen P, Liu P, Gong Q, Liu Y, Tian J
- Issue date: 2010 Jan
- Investigation of acupoint specificity by multivariate granger causality analysis from functional MRI data.
- Authors: Feng Y, Bai L, Zhang W, Xue T, Ren Y, Zhong C, Wang H, You Y, Liu Z, Dai J, Liu Y, Tian J
- Issue date: 2011 Jul
- Modulation of cerebellar activities by acupuncture stimulation: evidence from fMRI study.
- Authors: Yoo SS, Teh EK, Blinder RA, Jolesz FA
- Issue date: 2004 Jun
- Self-Regulation of Anterior Insula with Real-Time fMRI and Its Behavioral Effects in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Feasibility Study.
- Authors: Buyukturkoglu K, Roettgers H, Sommer J, Rana M, Dietzsch L, Arikan EB, Veit R, Malekshahi R, Kircher T, Birbaumer N, Sitaram R, Ruiz S
- Issue date: 2015
- Investigation of acupoint specificity by functional connectivity analysis based on graph theory.
- Authors: Ren Y, Bai L, Feng Y, Tian J, Li K
- Issue date: 2010 Sep 27