Comparison study between shallowly skin needling and routine needling in Neiguan(PC6) by fMRI

Objective:To compare the activation on different cerebral functional regions between shallowly skin needling and routine needling in Neiguan(PC6) by fMRI. Methods:Seven volunteers received stimulation of shallowly skin needling and routine needling in PC6,and received the cerebral fMRI scan under the different states. The cere-bral activating rate,activating spots and activating strength of different ROIs were compared between the two different stimulating methods. Results:The cerebral activating in different ROIs had not any obvious differences,but there was a trend that shallowly skin needling mainly activated right occipital lobe and left cerebellum,while the routine needling mainly activated bilateral temporal lobes,left occipital lobe and right cerebellum. Conclusion:There were not obviously differences between shallowly skin needling and routine needling in PC6,but there was a trend that routine needling could activate bilateral temporal lobes better.