Hypothalamus and Amygdala Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Hypothalamus and Amygdala Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Napadow V, et al. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States; Department of Radiology, Logan College of Chiropractic, Chesterfield, MO, United States.

Brain processing of acupuncture stimuli in chronic neuropathic pain
patients may underlie its beneficial effects. We used fMRI to evaluate
verum and sham acupuncture stimulation at acupoint LI-4 in Carpal
Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) patients and healthy controls (HC). CTS patients
were retested after 5 weeks of acupuncture therapy. Thus, we
investigated both the short-term brain response to acupuncture
stimulation, as well as the influence of longer-term acupuncture
therapy effects on this short-term response. CTS patients responded to
verum acupuncture with greater activation in the hypothalamus and
deactivation in the amygdala as compared to HC, controlling for the
non-specific effects of sham acupuncture. A similar difference was
found between CTS patients at baseline and after acupuncture therapy.
For baseline CTS patients responding to verum acupuncture, functional
connectivity was found between the hypothalamus and amygdala - the
less deactivation in the amygdala, the greater the activation in the
hypothalamus, and vice versa. Furthermore, hypothalamic response
correlated positively with the degree of maladaptive cortical
plasticity in CTS patients (inter-digit separation distance). This is
the first evidence suggesting that chronic pain patients respond to
acupuncture differently than HC, through a coordinated limbic network
including the hypothalamus and amygdala.

Pain. 2007 Jan 18;

Article Retrieved From: http://acupuncture.com.au