Jing Li
1
WingYi Ng
2
YongKang Liu
1
ZhongQiu Wang
1*
Lixia Pei
2*The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging Methods
Volume 18 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1383041
The neuroplasticity of the white matter tract underlies the recovery of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome after acupuncture treatment
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Radiology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
- 2 Department of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Rehabilitation, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
- 3 Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Lower Saxony, Germany
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder frequently associated with other pain syndromes and psychiatric conditions, including depression and anxiety. These abnormalities coincide with alterations in the brain's structure, particularly in the thalamus and cingulate system. Acupuncture has been demonstrated to be highly effective in treating IBS. However, it remains unclear how white matter tracts change after acupuncture treatment, and whether the neuroplasticity of these tracts can serve as a neural marker to assist in the development of novel treatments. In this study, we aim to answer these questions by investigating longitudinal changes in the white matter of thalamus and cingulate system in a group of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) patients before and after acupuncture treatment. We found that after acupuncture treatment, as IBS symptoms improved, there were significant changes in the microstructure of the right thalamus radiation (TR) (p < 0.05) and the right cingulum hippocampus (CH) (p < 0.05). At the same time, patients with reduced IBS symptom severity scores were associated with the change of the right CH (p = 0.015, r = -0.491), while reduced depressive conditions correlated with the change of the left TR (p = 0.019, r = 0.418). In addition, the consequences for quality of life showed a correlation with right cingulum (CC) (p = 0.012, r = 0.504) and left TR (p = 0.027, r = -0.397). Our study highlighted the potential implications of neuroplasticity white matter tract in IBS. Furthermore, these findings suggested that right CH, thalamus radiation and right CC can serve as a potential "biomarker" of IBS-D recovery under acupuncture treatments.
Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome1, white matter fiber bundles2, DTI3, acupuncture4, brain function5
Received: 06 Feb 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Li, Ng, Wei, Liu, Fang, Wang and Pei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
ZhongQiu Wang, Department of Radiology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Lixia Pei, Department of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Rehabilitation, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
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