Effect of Acupuncture at Weishu Combined with Zhongwan on the Regional Homogenity of Resting-State Brain Function and Electrogastrogram for Patients with Functional Dyspepsia

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of acupuncture at Weishu (BL21) combined with Zhongwan (RN12) and acupuncture at non-combined acupoints on regional homogeneity (ReHo) of resting-state brain function and the electrogastrogram (EGG) in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD)， and to explore the central mechanism of regulating the gastric motility of FD patients by acupuncture at BL21 and RN12. METHODS 37 FD patients were randomly divided into combined acupoints group (19 cases) and non-combined acupoints group (18 cases). The two groups were treated with bilateral BL21+RN21 acupuncture therapy and non-acupoints acupuncture therapy of the same segment separately. At the same time， 19 healthy people were enrolled as the control group. The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan (rs-fMRI) and EGG test were performed before and after treatment. The changes of ReHo and EGG were observed before and after treatment. Additionally， the correlation analysis between the changes of ReHo and gastric motility was conducted. RESULTS ① After treatment， the amplitude and frequency of EGG in the combined acupoints group increased (P<0.05，P<0.01). In the non-combined acupoints group， the amplitude of EGG increased (P<0.01)， and the frequency was not significantly different from that before treatment (P>0.05). ② Compared with the control group， the ReHo values of FD patients in different regions of the brain such as cerebellum， frontal lobe， cingulate gyrus， insula and temporal lobe were abnormal. In the combined acupoints group， the ReHo values of fusiform gyrus， posterior cingulate gyrus and other brain areas increased in FD patients after treatment (P<0.05)， and that of hippocampus and middle frontal gyrus decreased (P<0.05). In the non-combined acupoints group， the ReHo values of cerebellum， superior frontal gyrus， middle frontal gyrus， anterior cuneiform lobe， angular gyrus and other brain regions of FD patients changed after acupuncture. ③ Correlation analysis showed that the changes of EGG were correlated with the changes of superior temporal gyrus， middle temporal gyrus， posterior cingulate gyrus， middle frontal gyrus and hippocampus in the combined acupoints group. There was no significant correlation between the changes of ReHo values in different brain regions and the change of EGG amplitude in the non-combined acupoints group. CONCLUSION Acupuncture at BL21 combined with RN21 can cause the changes of ReHo values in multiple brain regions of FD patients and its effect on gastric motility is better than that of non-combined acupoints group. Hippocampus， posterior cingulate gyrus， cerebellum and other brain regions may be involved in the regulation of gastric motility. The effect of regulating gastric motility in FD patients by acupuncture at BL21 combined with RN21 may be achieved by the benign regulation of brain regions which is related to limbic system and gastrointestinal sensory matrix.