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Laser acupuncture induced specific cerebral cortical and subcortical activations in humans

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Abstract

As recent studies demonstrated, acupuncture can elicit activity in specific brain areas. This study aims to explore further the central effect using laser acupuncture. We investigated the cerebral effects of laser acupuncture at both acupoints GB43 with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As a control condition the laser was mounted at the same acupoints but without application of laser stimulation. The group results showed significant brain activations within the thalamus, nucleus subthalamicus, nucleus ruber, the brainstem, and the Brodmann areas 40 and 22 for the acupuncture condition. No significant brain activations were observed within the placebo condition. The activations we observed were laser acupuncture-specific and predominantly ipsilateral. This supports the assumption that acupuncture is mediated by meridians, since meridians do not cross to the other side. Furthermore, we could show that laser acupuncture allows one to design a pure placebo condition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology II, University Hospital of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Christian M. Siedentopf, Florian Koppelstaetter, Ilka Anna Haala, Veronika Haid, Paul Rhomberg, Stephan Felber & Stefan M. Golaszewski

  2. Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Anja Ischebeck

  3. Institute for Health Science, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology UMIT, Hall i.T., Austria

    Waltraud Buchberger

  4. Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Andreas Schlager

  5. Neurological Therapy Centre, Duesseldorf and St. Mauritius Therapy Hospital, Meerbusch, University Hospital of Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany

    Stefan M. Golaszewski

Authors
  1. Christian M. Siedentopf
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  2. Florian Koppelstaetter
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  3. Ilka Anna Haala
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  4. Veronika Haid
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  5. Paul Rhomberg
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  6. Anja Ischebeck
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  7. Waltraud Buchberger
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  8. Stephan Felber
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  9. Andreas Schlager
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  10. Stefan M. Golaszewski
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Correspondence to Christian M. Siedentopf.

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Siedentopf, C.M., Koppelstaetter, F., Haala, I.A. et al. Laser acupuncture induced specific cerebral cortical and subcortical activations in humans. Lasers Med Sci 20, 68–73 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-005-0340-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-005-0340-3

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