Somatosensory Stimulation With XNKQ Acupuncture Modulates Functional Connectivity of Motor Areas

Xingnao Kaiqiao (XNKQ) acupuncture is an acupuncture technique used for stroke patients. In 24 healthy volunteers, we applied this complex acupuncture intervention, which consists of a manual needle-stimulation on five acupuncture points (DU26 unilaterally, PC6, and SP6 bilaterally). XNKQ was compared to three control conditions: (1) insertion of needles on the XNKQ acupuncture points without stimulation, (2) manual needle-stimulation on five nearby non-acupuncture points, and (3) insertion of needles on the non-acupuncture points without stimulation. In a within-subject design, we investigated functional connectivity changes in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) by means of the data-driven eigenvector centrality (EC) approach. With a 2 × 2 factorial within-subjects design with two-factor stimulation (stimulation vs. non-stimulation) and location (acupuncture points vs. non-acupuncture points), we found decreased EC in the precuneus after needle-stimulation (stimulation