Altered functional connectivity density in mild cognitive impairment with moxibustion treatment: A resting-state fMRI study
Altered functional connectivity density in mild cognitive impairment with moxibustion treatment: A resting-state fMRI study
复制标题
艾灸治疗改变轻度认知障碍的功能连接密度：静息态功能磁共振成像研究
DOI：
10.1016/j.brainres.2021.147732
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发表时间：
2021-11-26
期刊：
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Liu, Peng
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Liu, Chengxiang;Zhao, Lihua;Liu, Peng
目的：轻度认知障碍(MCI)是一种常见的神经退行性疾病。艾灸对认知功能有显著的改善作用，但关于艾灸对MCI的影响及其潜在的神经机制尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨穴位相关艾灸对MCI患者脑网络的改善作用。方法：对47例MCI患者和30例健康对照组进行静息状态功能磁共振成像。将患者随机分为调肾益智穴组(27例)和假艾灸组(20例)。采用功能连接性密度法(FCD)和重复测量双因素方差分析(ANOVA)来确定TSYZ和Sham组与时间(治疗前和治疗后)之间的交互作用。结果：与对照组相比，MCI组大鼠的额叶中叶、额叶下部、颞极、丘脑和中扣带回的FCD均有不同程度的改变。艾灸治疗MCI后，1)内侧前额叶皮质(MPFC)存在明显的时程交互作用；2)TSYZ组mPFC和MFC的异常长程FCD(1rFCD)得到调节；3)临床症状明显改善；4)TSYZ组MFC中1rFCD的改变与蒙特利尔认知评估评分的增加呈显著负相关。结论：穴位艾灸治疗可改善与自我相关认知和决策相关的某些区域的1rFCD。本研究有助于加深对MCI神经机制的认识，拓展艾灸在MCI中的临床应用。
Purpose: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a general neurodegenerative disease. Moxibustion has been shown to have remarkable effect on cognitive improvement, however, less is known about the effect of moxibustion on MCI and its underlying neural mechanism. This study aimed to investigate the ameliorative brain network in MCI after treatments of acupoint-related moxibustion.Methods: Resting-state functional MRI were derived from 47 MCI patients and 30 healthy controls (HCs). Patients were randomized as Tiaoshen YiZhi (TSYZ, n = 27) and sham (SHAM, n = 20) acupoint moxibustion groups. Functional connectivity density (FCD) method and repeated-measures two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to ascertain the interaction effects between groups (TSYZ and SHAM) and time (baseline and post-treatment). Abnormal FCD was examined between baseline and post-treatment in TSYZ and SHAM groups, respectively.Results: Compared with HCs, MCI showed altered FCD in the middle frontal cortex (MFC), inferior frontal cortex, temporal pole, thalamus and middle cingulate cortex. After moxibustion treatment in MCI, 1) a significant time-by-groups interaction was observed in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC); 2) abnormal long-range FCD (1rFCD) in the mPFC and MFC were modulated in TSYZ group; 3) significantly improved clinical symptoms; 4) changed 1rFCD in the MFC was significantly negatively correlated with the increased Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores in TSYZ group.Conclusions: These imaging findings suggest that treatments of acupoint-related moxibustion could improve lrFCD in certain regions related to self-related cognitive and decision making. Our study might promote understanding of MCI neural mechanisms and expand the clinical application of moxibustion in MCI.