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• Clinical Article •
Effects of acupuncture at the Si Guan points on functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in patients with Alzheimer's disease
FAN Lihua  TIAN Xin  CHEN Yuanyuan  WEI Wei  WANG Zhiqun  WANG Junkai  ZHOU Feng  ZHENG Yunsong 

Cite this article as: FAN L H, TIAN X, CHEN Y Y, et al. Effects of acupuncture at the Si Guan points on functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in patients with Alzheimer's disease[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(10): 7-13. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.10.002.


[Abstract] Objective To assess the sustained effect of acupuncture at the Si Guan points on functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and normal controls (NC).Materials and Methods Demographic data, neuropsychological assessments, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected from 14 AD patients and 14 NCs matched by age, sex, and educational level at baseline. After the baseline MRI scan, acupuncture stimulation on the Si Guan points was performed for 3 minutes. Then, another 10 minutes of fMRI data were acquired after the needle was withdrawn. A dataset that included 100 healthy participants was also included to construct a reliable functional connectivity map of the hippocampal subregions. Regions of interest (ROIs) in the bilateral anterior hippocampus (aHPC) and posterior hippocampus (pHPC) were selected to assess the sustained effect of acupuncture on functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in AD patients and NCs.Results Resting-state functional connectivity analysis demonstrated that multiple brain regions, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), superior temporal gyrus (STG) and insula, showed increased functional connectivity with the hippocampal subregions in the AD group (all P < 0.05) and decreased functional connectivity with the hippocampal subregions in the NC group after acupuncture compared to that at baseline (all P < 0.05). However, superior frontal gyrus (SFG) showed decreased functional connectivity with the hippocampal subregions in the AD group (P < 0.05) and increased functional connectivity with the hippocampal subregions in the NC group (P < 0.01) after acupuncture compared to that at baseline. Acupuncture also specifically elicited increased functional connectivity between the aHPC and the medial frontal cortex (P < 0.01) as well as decreased functional connectivity between the pHPC and the PHG (P < 0.05) in the NC group. Additionally, functional connectivity between the aHPC and the OFC was positively correlated with neuropsychological scale scores in the AD group before acupuncture treatment (r = 0.70, P = 0.016).Conclusions These findings confirm and extend previous studies suggesting that acupuncture at Si Guan points can exert bidirectional and benign regulatory effects on functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in AD patients.
[Keywords] Alzheimer's disease；resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging；magnetic resonance imaging；acupuncture；hippocampal subfields

FAN Lihua1   TIAN Xin1   CHEN Yuanyuan1   WEI Wei1   WANG Zhiqun2   WANG Junkai2   ZHOU Feng3   ZHENG Yunsong1, 4*  

1 Department of Medical Imaging, Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712000, China

2 Department of Imaging, Aerospace Center Hospital, Beijing 100049, China

3 Department of Scientific Research, Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712000, China

4 School of Medical Technology, Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712046, China

Corresponding author: ZHENG Y S, E-mail: 576753017@qq.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-04-29
Accepted  2025-10-09
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.10.002
Cite this article as: FAN L H, TIAN X, CHEN Y Y, et al. Effects of acupuncture at the Si Guan points on functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in patients with Alzheimer's disease[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(10): 7-13. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.10.002.

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