• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.20-32
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• 2014

Objectives : There has been some controversy about the modulatory effects on brain function during acupuncture on each side of the same acupoint. This study was designed to investigate and compare the blood oxygen level-dependent(BOLD) responses of acupuncture on each side of ST36. Methods : Fourteen healthy subjects were recruited for imaging and received acupuncture or placebo stimulations either on the left or on the right acupoint of ST36 in each scan. For the voxel-wise statistical analysis, one sample T-test and the within-subject analysis of variance(ANOVA) test were performed using SPM8 software. Results : This study showed that acupuncture on each side of ST36 showed different BOLD signal patterns. Higher BOLD responses after acupuncture stimulations at the left ST36 compared to the right were observed mainly in the parahippocampal gyrus(BA 28), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(DLPFC, BA 44), thalamus, culmen and claustrum. We investigated the different neural responses between rest and activation periods of placebo and acupuncture stimulations on each side of ST36. Acupuncture at the right ST36 elicited activation mainly in the insula, supplementary motor area(SMA) and anterior cingulate cortex(ACC), while acupuncture at the left ST36 elicited activation mainly in the insula, primary somatosensory cortex(SI, BA 2) and DLPFC(BA 44). Conclusions : To our knowledge, this is the first reported functional MRI study directly comparing when needling at the right and at the left side of ST36. This study's preliminary results proved to be evidence of acupuncture's different effects when performed on opposite sides of an acupoint.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.85-85
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• 2003

Purpose： To investigate whether or not acupuncture of GB34 produces a significant response of the modulation of somatomotor areas by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. Materials and methods： The acupoint, GB34, located in the back of the knee, is known to be effective in recovering motor function after stroke. Using 3T MRI scanner, functional MR imaging of the whole brain was peformed in 12 normal healthy subjects during two stimulation paradigms; acupuncture manipulation on GB34 and sham points. This study investigates the activation of the motor cortex elicited by a soft and an intensified stimulation of GB 34.Three different paradigms were carried out to detect any possible modulation of the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) response in the somatomortor area to motor stimulation through acupuncture.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2002

Purpose : The minimum stimulus onset asynchronoy(SOAmin) is one of important experimental parameters for an event-related fMRI experiment designed with the stochastic stimulus. In this study, the most efficient SOAmin is explored for the stronger activation in motor and language tasks with the stimulus designed stochastically. Materials and methods : The event-related fMRI during motor and language tasks were obtained in four normal right-handed subjects. EPI-BOLD sequence is used at 1.5Tesla MR system for the acquisition of event-related fMRI. For each task the subjects are responded for the stimulus' with 2, 3, 4, and 6 seconds SOAmin. The obtained images are processed with SPM99, and the p value is set as 0.05 for the significant activation detection. The Z value and the number of activated pixels are compared for each task. Results : For the motor task, the primary and supplementary motor areas are activated, and for the language task the consistent activated signals are detected in the Broca's. The activated signal is to be stronger for the shorter SOAmin for both motor and language tasks. At primary motor area, the activated signals is the strongest for 3 seconds SOAmin and for the supplementary motor area the result with 2 seconds SOAmin shows the strongest activation. And the result of language task shows the strongest activation at the 2 seconds SOAmin. Conclusion : In the event-related fMRI of motor and language tasks with the stochastically designed stimulus, the 2 or 3 seconds SOAmin is efficient for more activated and clustered activation.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2002

목적： Writer's cramp를 가진 환자와 정상 성인에서 뇌 활성화를 비교 하고자 한다. 대상 및 방법： Writer's cramp를 가진 1명의 환자와 정상 성인 4명에서 글을 쓰는 과제를 시행하여 관련된 대뇌영역의 활성화를 유도하였다. resting, writering을 반복하는 자극을 시행하였다. 자기공명영상은 3.0T 초전도 자기공명 영상장치에서 EPI BOLD기법을 이용하여 얻었다. 영상 후 처리는 SPM 분석 프로그램을 사용하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.183-192
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• 2005

This study compared cerebral lateralization index based on the area of neural activation with that based on the intensity of neural activation. For this purpose, 8 right-handed male college students (the mean age - 23.5 years) and 10 right-handed male college students (the mean age - 25.1 years) participated respectively in researches on visuospatial and verbal task brain function. Functional brain images were taken from 3T MRI using the single-shot EPI method. The result of measuring cerebral lateralization index based on the area of neural activation suggested that the right hemisphere is dominant in visuospatial tasks and the left one is in verbal tasks. However, the dominance is not sufficient to locate the exact part of the brain for these tasks. When cerebral lateralization index was computed based on the intensity of neural activation, it was derived that the area of cerebral lateralization closely related to visuospatial tasks is the superior parietal lobe, and the area of cerebral lateralization closely related to verbal tasks is the inferior and middle frontal lobes. Thus, cerebral lateralization index by area based on the intensity of neural activation as proposed by this study can determine the dominance of the cerebrum by area, so is helpful for accurate and quantitative determination of cerebral lateralization.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.7 s.172
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• pp.200-207
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• 2005

This study compares two different methods of measuring brain-BOLD activation. By comparing two different methods of measurement i.e., one method calculating the neural activation area (the number of activated voxels), while the other measured the neural activation intensity (the mean intensity of selected activated yokels), this study identified the more precise method of measuring brain activation which results from the completion of a visuospatial task. 16 right-handed male college students (mean age 23.2 years) participated in this study as subjects. Functional brain images were scanned on them using a 3T MRI single-shot EPI method. No correlation was found between the levels of cognitive performance and number of activated yokels in the activated brain areas. However, a significant correlation was found between the levels of cognitive performance and the mean intensity of selected activated yokels in the parietal, frontal, and other areas. In conclusion, the method of mean intensity was considered a better index of brain activity rather than the activated yokels measurement method.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.295-345
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• 2003

This study investigated activation of cerebral cortex in patients with hemiplegia that was caused by neural damage. Key-point control movement therapy of Bobath was performed for 9 weeks in 3 subjects with hemiplegia and fMRI was used to compare and analyze activated degree of cerebral cortex in these subjects. fMRI was conducted using the blood oxygen level-dependent(BOLD) technique at 3.0T MR scanner with a standard head coil. The motor activation task consisted of finger flexion-extension exercise in six cycles(one half-cycles = 8 scans = $3\;sec{\times}\;8\;=\;24\;sec$). Subjects performed this task according to visual stimulus that sign of right hand or left hand twinkled(500ms on, 500ms off). After mapping activation of cerebral motor cortex on hand motor function, below results were obtained. 1. Activation decreased in primary motor area, whereas it increased in supplementary motor area and visual association area(p<.001). 2. Activation was observed in bilateral medial frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus of left cerebrum, inferior frontal gyrus, inter-hemispheric, fusiform gyrus of right cerebrum, superior parietal lobule of parietal lobe and precuneus in subjedt 1, parahippocampal gyrus of limbic lobe and cingulate gyrus in subject 2, and inferior frontal gyrus of right frontal lobe, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule of left cerebrum in subject 3 (p<.001). 3. Activation cluster extended in declive of right cellebellum posterior lobe in subject 1, culmen of anterior lobe and declive of posterior lobe in subject 2, and dentate gyrus of anterior lobe, culmen and tuber of posterior lobe in subject 3 (p<.001). In conclusion, these data showed that Key-point control movement therapy of Bobath after stroke affect cerebral cortex activation by increasing efficiency of cortical networks. Therefore mapping of brain neural network activation is useful for plasticity and reorganization of cerebral cortex and cortico-spinal tract of motor recovery mechanisms after stroke.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.75-88
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• 2008

Visual scene contains lots of redundant information. To process this redundant information without increasing brain's volume, human visual system may summarize incoming information. If similar but different information are given to visual system, visual system extracts statistical properties of the information. One example of the statistical representation is representation of mean size. The mean representation is accurate and durable. The process of mean representation is suggested to be parallel. However, previous studies on the mean representation mostly used behavioral methods. The purpose of this study was to investigate which neural regions extracted the mean size of a set of circles using fMRI method. According to previous studies, BOLD signal of certain areas that were in charge of cousin stimuli decreased when the same stimuli presented repetitively. We used this paradigm and found that BOLD signal of right occipital area was decreased when same mean site was presented repeatedly. This results suggest that right occipital area is the locus of mean representation of visual stimuli.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.111-111
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• 2002

Purpose： This study is to compare the distinct brain activation between implicit and explicit memory retrieval tasks using a non-invasive blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI). Materials ＆ Methods： We studied seven right-handed, healthy volunteers aged 21-25 years(mean；22 years) were scanned under a 1.5T Signa Horizon Echospeed MR imager(GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, U.S.A.). During the implicit and explicit memory retrieval tasks of previously teamed words under the conceptual processing, we acquired fMRI data using gradient-echo EPI with 50ms TE, 3000ms TR, 26cm${\times}$26cm field-of-view, 128${\times}$128 matrix, and ten slices(6mm slice thickness, 1 mm gap) parallel to the AC-PC(anterior commissure and posterior commissure) line. By using the program of statistical parametric mapping(SPM99), functional activation maps were reconstructed and quantified.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.114-133
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• 2003

Objective : The meridian theory in oriental medicine explains that Sp9(Yinlingquan) has been considered very important for gynecological disorders, spleen and stomach disorders, and water metabolic disorders. Functional MRI is the best method of showing the evidences of the effect of the Electro-acupuncture treatment through scientific methods. On this supposition, Electro-acupuncture stimulation on Sp9(Yinlingquan) was carried out on six healthy volunteers, using the gradient echo sequence with the 3.0T whole-body MRI system(ISOL). Methods : Electro-acupuncture stimulation on Sp9(Yinlingquan), the experiment was carried out on six healthy volunteers, using the gradient echo sequence with the 3.0T whole-body MRI system(ISOL). After the needle insertion on right Sp9(Yinlingquan), 2Hz of electric stimulation was given for 30 seconds, repeated five times, with 30 seconds' intervals. The Image analysis including motion correction, talairach transformation, and smoothing was done using SPM99. Results : The electro-acupuncture stimulation on Sp9(Yinlingquan) activates Brodmann Area 13, 19, 22, 39, 40, 47 which may be the central pathways of the electro-acupuncture stimulation on Sp9(Yinlingquan). We also hypothesize that those brain areas may be directly or indirectly related with the mechanism of the effect of electro-acupuncture stimulation on Sp9(Yinlingquan).