• Yong Zhang, Kuang-shi Li, Hong-wei Liu, Cai-hong Fu, Sheng Chen, Zhong-jian Tan, and Yi Ren.
• Department of Neurology and Stroke Center, Dongzhimen Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100700, China.
• Chin J Integr Med. 2016 Apr 1; 22 (4): 293-301.

ObjectiveTo investigate the modulatory effect of acupuncture treatment on the resting-state functional connectivity of brain regions in migraine without aura (MWoA) patients.MethodsTwelve MWoA patients were treated with standard acupuncture treatment for 4 weeks. All MWoA patients received resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning before and after acupuncture treatment. Another 12 normal subjects matched in age and gender were recruited to serve as healthy controls. The changes of restingstate functional connectivity in MWoA patients before and after the acupuncture treatment and those with the healthy controls were compared.ResultsBefore acupuncture treatment, the MWoA patients had significantly decreased functional connectivity in certain brain regions within the frontal and temporal lobe when compared with the healthy controls. After acupuncture treatment, brain regions showing decreased functional connectivity revealed significant reduction in MWoA patients compared with before acupuncture treatment.ConclusionsAcupuncture treatment could increase the functional connectivity of brain regions in the intrinsic decreased brain networks in MWoA patients. The results provided further insights into the interpretation of neural mechanisms of acupuncture treatment for migraine.

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