Acupuncture decreases amygdala functional connectivity in subjective tinnitus

Yating Zhang; Bixiang Zha; Haiping Shi; Ling Cheng; Yinqiu Fan; Wanlin Zhang; Zhihao Rong; Zhaoxing Jin; Nan Gao; Jun Yang; Qingping Zhang

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.986805

Acupuncture decreases amygdala functional connectivity in subjective tinnitus

Front Neurol. 2022 Dec 1:13:986805. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.986805. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yating Zhang¹, Bixiang Zha², Haiping Shi², Ling Cheng³, Yinqiu Fan², Wanlin Zhang¹, Zhihao Rong¹, Zhaoxing Jin⁴, Nan Gao⁵, Jun Yang², Qingping Zhang⁶

Affiliations

¹ The First School of Clinical Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
² First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
³ School of Humanity and International Education and Exchange, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
⁴ West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
⁵ Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
⁶ School of Acupuncture and Massage, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Subjective tinnitus is a common and intractable ear disease. The effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of subjective tinnitus has been confirmed, but its mechanism of action is not clear. The structures of the amygdala (AMYG) are mainly closely related to emotion in the human brain. This study aimed to investigate the changes in functional connectivity (FC) of AMYG in subjective tinnitus to elucidate the neural mechanism of acupuncture.

Methods: Correlation scale scores of 26 patients with subjective tinnitus were collected, including Tinnitus Evaluation Questionnaire (TEQ), Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Meanwhile, rs-fMRI data were collected before and after acupuncture treatment in the patients, and in healthy controls (HC) matching the patient's gender and age. Then, AMYG was selected as region of interest to perform FC analysis. Finally, FC patterns of AMYG were first compared between patients with subjective tinnitus and HC, and then within subjects pre-acupuncture and post-acupuncture. Simple linear regression models between correlation scale scores and FC-values were established as well.

Results: Acupuncture treatment relieved the severity of tinnitus. With the acupuncture treatment, the total THI score, TEQ score, and VSA score of patients were significantly lower than before (p < 0.05). Compared with HC, FC of tinnitus patients between AMYG and right inferior temporal gyrus and right precuneus significantly decreased before acupuncture (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05, corrected with GRF), while FC of tinnitus patients between AMYG and left superior frontal gyrus and right superior temporal gyrus significantly decreased after acupuncture treatment (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05, corrected with GRF). FC of tinnitus patients between the AMYG and right superior frontal gyrus and left paracingulate gyrus showed significant decrease after acupuncture treatment (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05, corrected with GRF). Besides, the linear regression models of the effect of THI on FC and VAS on FC performed were statistically significant (p < 0.05).

Discussion: The findings demonstrate that acupuncture can decrease FC of AMYG, which could be positively correlated with the relief of tinnitus symptoms. This result suggests that acupuncture stimulation can effectively relieve the severity of tinnitus by decreasing FC of AMYG in subjective tinnitus patients.

Keywords: acupuncture; amygdala; functional connectivity; functional magnetic resonance imaging; subjective tinnitus.