NIH Library of Medicine PubMed Central
Journal List Front Aging Neurosci PMC9975578
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a multifaceted and intricate central neurodegenerative condition. Acupuncture emerges as a promising intervention for enhancing cognitive function in individuals with MCI. The persistence of neural plasticity in the MCI brain suggests that the benefits associated with acupuncture may extend beyond cognitive functions. Instead, neurological changes in the brain are pivotal in correlating with cognitive improvements. Despite the positive focus on cognitive effects in previous studies, the understanding of neurological findings remains somewhat ambiguous.
This systematic review aims to consolidate existing studies utilizing diverse brain imaging techniques to elucidate the neurological effects of acupuncture in the treatment of MCI. Potential neuroimaging trials were meticulously sought, collected, and assessed independently by two researchers. Searches spanned four Chinese databases, four English databases, and additional sources, covering studies reporting acupuncture use for MCI from database inception until June 1, 2022. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was employed to appraise methodological quality. Additionally, general, methodological, and brain neuroimaging information was extracted and synthesized to explore potential neural mechanisms through which acupuncture influences MCI patients.
In total, 22 studies encompassing 647 participants were included, demonstrating moderate to high methodological quality. Utilizing techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy, acupuncture-induced brain alterations were notably observed in the cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus of MCI patients. The impact of acupuncture on MCI may involve the regulation of the default mode network, central executive network, and salience network. These findings suggest the potential for researchers to shift their focus from the cognitive domain to the neurological level. Future research endeavors should strive to develop additional relevant, well-designed, high-quality, and multimodal neuroimaging studies to comprehensively explore the effects of acupuncture on the brains of individuals with MCI.
輕度認知障礙（MCI）是一種多因素和複雜的中樞神經退行性疾病。針灸似乎是提升MCI患者認知功能的有效方法。MCI大腦中仍存在的神經可塑性暗示著針灸相關的好處可能不僅僅局限於認知功能。相反，大腦中的神經變化在與認知改善相對應中發揮了至關重要的作用。然而，先前的研究主要集中在認知功能的影響上，使得有關神經學方面的發現相對不明確。
本系統性回顧旨在總結使用多種腦影像技術探討針灸治療MCI的神經效應的現有研究。潛在的神經影像試驗由兩位研究人員獨立進行搜索、收集和確認。搜索範圍包括四個中文數據庫、四個英文數據庫以及其他來源，覆蓋了有關MCI針灸治療的研究，時間跨度從數據庫創建一直到2022年6月1日。使用Cochrane偏倚風險工具來評估方法學質量。此外，還提取和總結了一般性、方法學和腦神經影像學信息，以探討針灸對MCI患者產生影響的潛在神經機制。總共包括了22個研究，涵蓋了647名參與者。其中，研究的方法學質量從中等到高。所使用的方法包括功能性磁共振成像、擴散張量成像、近紅外光譜成像和磁共振波譜學。觀察到的針灸誘導的大腦變化在MCI患者中主要集中在扣帶皮層、前頭皮層和海馬體。針灸對MCI的影響可能在調節默認模式網絡、中央執行網絡和显著性網絡方面發揮作用。基於這些研究，研究人員可以將最近的研究焦點從認知領域擴展到神經學層面。未來的研究應該開展更多相關、設計良好、高質量且多模態的神經影像研究，以探測針灸對MCI患者大腦的影響。
Link to original article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9975578/#:~:text=Many%20systematic%20reviews%20