1. School of Physical Electronics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China;2. Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China;3. School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Chengdu University of TCM, Chengdu, China;4. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Abstract:
Acupuncture has been an effective treatment for various pain in China for several thousand years. However, the mechanisms underlying this mysterious ancient healing are still largely unknown. Here we applied photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) to investigate brain hemodynamic changes in response to electronic acupuncture (EA) at ST36 (Zusanli). Due to the high optical absorption of blood at 532 nm, PAM could sensitively probe changes in hemoglobin concentration (HbT, i.e., cerebral blood volume CBV]) of cortical regions in high resolution. Six healthy mice were stimulated at the acupoint and three healthy mice were stimulated at sham points. Remarkable CBV changes in sensorimotor and retrosplenial agranular cortex were observed. Results showed the potential of PAM as a visualization tool to study the acupuncture effect on brain hemodynamics in animal models.
( a ) Schematic showing the stimulation points. ( b ) B‐scan images overlaid with mouse atlas. ( c ) & ( d ) Statistical results of CBV changes from cortical regions.
