MECHANISMS OF ACUPUNCTURE ANALGESIA: A (FMRI) AND (PET) STUDY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Acupuncture has been used for the reduction of pain for over 2000 years in Asia and is now becoming more popular in Western countries. The aim of this study is to use two different brain imaging techniques, positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to determine acupuncture specific neural mechanisms of pain reduction. This research may result in a more widespread acceptance of acupuncture by the scientific community and also help to elucidate neural mechanisms that underlie this intervention. All participants must have the diagnosis of fibromyalgia (FM), a chronic pain condition, and have no contraindications with either the PET procedures, the magnetic fields used in fMRI, or acupuncture needles. All subjects will be recruited from a subject registry (UM IRB # 2002-0678) with an initial solicitation via telephone. A written informed consent will be obtained in person from potential subjects. All eligible subjects will be randomly assigned to receive either traditional Chinese medicine based acupuncture or a placebo toothpick intervention which mimics acupuncture. Stratified randomization will be utilized to divide participants into those with and without depression at baseline. Depressed participants will be excluded from the PET portion of this investigation. The primary outcomes are the changes in brain activity as measured with either PET or fMRI. Comparisons between brain regions that are activated in the acupuncture versus placebo toothpick groups will be made. Different activity between the two groups would suggest unique mechanisms for acupuncture whereas similar activity between the two groups would suggest that acupuncture functions primarily through placebo mechanisms.'