Neuromechanism of acupuncture therapy in primary insomnia patients

Objective To understand the brain neural activity and possible compensation mechanism of brain function in primary insomnia (PI) patients after acupuncture therapy using regional homogeneity (ReHo) approach in resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods Twenty-nine PI patients, admitted to our hospital from August 2014 to January 2016, and 22 age, education, and gendermatched normal healthy subjects were chosen in our study. Every subject underwent acupuncture therapy in Baihui, Sishencongm Shenmen and Sanyinjiao for two weeks, and then, the resting state fMRI was performed to analyze the ReHo between the PI and normal control groups. Results As compared with the control group, the PI group showed significantly increased ReHo values in right middle occipital gyrus (MOG), left superior occipital gyrus (SOG), right cuneus and bilateral post central gyrus, and significantly decreased ReHo values in left rectus, bilateral medial frontal cortex, and bilateral para hippocampal gyrus (P<0.05). Conclusions The ReHo values in some brain regions of the PI patients are abnormal at the resting state; some external stimulation triggers a series of functional compensation in corresponding brain areas, and can help people fall sleep. Key words: Primary insomnia; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Resting state; Regional homogeneity