国外针刺中枢效应机制的fMRI研究进展

Progress of fMRI research in central effect mechanism of acupuncture overseas

目的:通过剖析近年来研究针刺中枢效应机制的国外发表文献,分析该研究领域的整体趋向,为后续研究提供借鉴与参考。方法:以"acupuncture"和"fMRI"为检索词,检索2009年1月至2012年5月Pubmed数据库,最终纳入38篇文献。结果与结论:研究多以健康受试者为观察对象,主要从针刺镇痛的中枢响应特征、穴位特异性的中枢响应特征、针刺效应的时间特性3个角度切入研究。然而正常受试者的脑功能活动显著不同于患者,针刺疗法也不同于现代疗法。因此,在今后的研究中应以患者为研究对象,尽量规避研究设计与实施过程中的各种偏倚。

Objective Through analysis of oversea published literatures on central effect mechanism of acupuneture in recent years, the general tendency in this filed is discussed so as to provide references for later studies. Methods Pubmed database from January 2009 to May 2012 is retrieved with the key words of acupuncture and fMRI. As a result, 38 articles are included. Results and Conclusions Healthy subjects are adopted for most of re searches. And studies are carried out through three aspects of response characteristics of acupuncture analgesia, response characteristics of acupuncture specificity and duration of acupuncture effect. However, the brain activities of healthy subjects are obviously different from that of patients. Moreover, acupuncture treatment is also different from modern therapies. Therefore, it is held that patients should be adopted as study subjects in the future stud ies, and various bias in research designation and implementation course should be avoided.