scholarly journals Functional Connectivity Modulation by Acupuncture in Patients with Bell’s Palsy

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunpeng Bian ◽  
Xiaoxuan He ◽  
Sheng Hu ◽  
Chuanfu Li ◽  
Chunsheng Xu ◽  
...  

Bell’s palsy (BP), an acute unilateral facial paralysis, is frequently treated with acupuncture in many countries. However, the mechanism of treatment is not clear so far. In order to explore the potential mechanism, 22 healthy volunteers and 17 BP patients with different clinical duration were recruited. The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were conducted before and after acupuncture at LI4 (Hegu), respectively. By comparing BP-induced functional connectivity (FC) changes with acupuncture-induced FC changes in the patients, the abnormal increased FC that could be reduced by acupuncture was selected. The FC strength of the selected FC at various stages was analyzed subsequently. Our results show that FC modulation of acupuncture is specific and consistent with the tendency of recovery. Therefore, we propose that FC modulation by acupuncture may be beneficial to recovery from the disease.

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke Song ◽  
Yong Wang ◽  
Mei-Xia Ren ◽  
Jiao Li ◽  
Ting Su ◽  
...  

Background: Using resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), we investigated alternations in spontaneous brain activities reflected by functional connectivity density (FCD) in patients with optic neuritis (ON).Methods: We enrolled 28 patients with ON (18 males, 10 females) and 24 healthy controls (HCs; 16 males, 8 females). All subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a quiet state to determine the values of rsFC, long-range FCD (longFCD), and short-range FCD (IFCD). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to distinguish patients from HCs.Results: The ON group exhibited obviously lower longFCD values in the left inferior frontal gyrus triangle, the right precuneus and the right anterior cingulate, and paracingulate gyri/median cingulate and paracingulate gyri. The left median cingulate and paracingulate gyri and supplementary motor area (SMA) were also significantly lower. Obviously reduced IFCD values were observed in the left middle temporal gyrus/angular gyrus/SMA and right cuneus/SMA compared with HCs.Conclusion: Abnormal neural activities were found in specific brain regions in patients with ON. Specifically, they showed significant changes in rsFC, longFCD, and IFCD values. These may be useful to identify the specific mechanism of change in brain function in ON.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Zhu ◽  
Lingyu Li ◽  
Yulin Song ◽  
Yu Han ◽  
Chengshu Zhou ◽  
...  

Default mode network (DMN) is an important functional brain network that supports aspects of cognition. Stroke has been reported to be associated with functional connectivity (FC) impairments within DMN. However, whether FC within DMN changes in transient ischemic attack (TIA), an important risk factor for stroke, remains unclear. Forty-eight TIA patients and 41 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in this study. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging seed-based FC methods, we examined FC alterations within DMN in TIA patients, tested its associations with clinical information, and further explored the ability of FC abnormalities to predict follow-up ischemic attacks. We found significantly decreased FC of left middle temporal gyrus/angular gyrus both with medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/Pcu) and significantly decreased FC among each pair of mPFC, left PCC, and right Pcu in patients with TIA as compared with HCs. Moreover, the connectivity between mPFC and left PCC could predict future ischemic attacks of the patients. Collectively, these findings may provide insights into further understanding of the underlying pathological mechanism in TIA, and aberrant FC between the hubs within DMN may provide a reference for the imaging diagnosis and early intervention of TIA.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 1921-1927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Tang ◽  
L. Kong ◽  
F. Wu ◽  
F. Womer ◽  
W. Jiang ◽  
...  

BackgroundConvergent studies provide support for abnormalities in the structure and functioning of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the amygdala, the key components of the neural system that subserves emotional processing in major depressive disorder (MDD). We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine potential amygdala–PFC functional connectivity abnormalities in treatment-naive subjects with MDD.MethodsResting-state fMRI data were acquired from 28 individuals with MDD and 30 healthy control (HC) subjects. Amygdala–PFC functional connectivity was compared between the MDD and HC groups.ResultsDecreased functional connectivity to the left ventral PFC (VPFC) from the left and right amygdala was observed in the MDD group, compared with the HC group (p < 0.05, corrected).ConclusionsThe treatment-naive subjects with MDD showed decreased functional connectivity from the amygdala to the VPFC, especially to the left VPFC. This suggests that these connections may play an important role in the neuropathophysiology of MDD at its onset.


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