Neural Acupuncture Unit: A New Concept for Interpreting Effects and Mechanisms of Acupuncture

Table 4

Brain regions with common neuroimaging response to acupuncture stimulation and acupuncture-associated neurophysiological and psychological effects^a.

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].