Table 4: Brain regions with common neuroimaging response to acupuncture stimulation and acupuncture-associated neurophysiological and psychological effectsa.

Brain regions Functional neuroimaging response to acupuncture Acupuncture-associated effects Primary somatosensory cortex Activation Pain and mechanoreceptor-activated signals Prefrontal cortex Activation Cognition and emotion Insula Activation/deactivation Pain Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) Deactivation Pain, attention, memory, and emotion Hypothalamus Activation Autonomic, neuroendocrine, visceral function, and stress-processed center Amygdala/hippocampus Activation Encoding emotional signals and short-term memory Thalamus Activation Pivotal relay station processing sensory inputs Cerebellum Activation Locomotor coordination, higher-order cognitive and emotional function Periaqueductal grey (PAG) and raphe nuclei Activation Modulating opioidergic and serotonergic activity, involved in pain, sleep, and consciousness.

aSome contents were extracted from [112].