Purpose. Acupuncture is an effective therapy for Internet addiction (IA). However, the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture in relieving compulsive Internet use remain unknown. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the role of the ventral striatum (VS) in the progress of IA; hence, the aim of this study was to explore the effects of acupuncture on the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and relevant network of VS in IA. Methods. Twenty-seven IA individuals and 30 demographically matched healthy control subjects (HCs) were recruited in this study. We acquired the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data in IA subjects before and after 40 days of acupuncture treatment. Seed-to-voxel and ROI-to-ROI analyses were applied to detect the rsFC alterations of the VS and related network in IA subjects and to investigate the modulation effect of acupuncture on the rsFC. Results. Compared with HCs, IA subjects exhibited enhanced rsFC of the right ventral rostral putamen (VRP) with the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), premotor cortex (PMC), cerebellum, and right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). In the network including these five ROIs, IA also showed increased ROI-to-ROI rsFC. Using a paired -test in IA subjects before and after 40 days of acupuncture, the increased ROI-to-ROI rsFC was decreased (normalized to HC) with acupuncture, including the rsFC of the right VRP with the left OFC, PMC, and cerebellum, and the rsFC of the left cerebellum with the left OFC, PMC, and right vmPFC. Furthermore, the change in rsFC strength between the right VRP and left cerebellum in IA individuals was found positively correlated with the Internet craving alleviation after acupuncture. Conclusions. These findings verified the modulation effect of acupuncture on functional connectivity of reward and habit systems related to the VS in IA individuals, which might partly represent the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture on IA.

中文翻译：

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针灸对网络成瘾青少年的奖励和习惯系统的调节。


目的。针灸是治疗网络成瘾（IA）的有效疗法。然而，针灸缓解强迫性互联网使用的根本机制仍然未知。神经影像学研究证明了腹侧纹状体 (VS) 在 IA 进展中的作用；因此，本研究的目的是探讨针灸对 IA 静息态功能连接（rsFC）和 VS 相关网络的影响。方法。本研究招募了 27 名 IA 个体和 30 名人口统计匹配的健康对照受试者 (HC)。我们获取了 IA 受试者针灸治疗 40 天前后的功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 数据。应用种子到体素和 ROI 到 ROI 分析来检测 IA 受试者 VS 和相关网络的 rsFC 变化，并研究针灸对 rsFC 的调节作用。结果。与 HC 相比，IA 受试者表现出右腹侧头壳核 (VRP) 与左眶额皮质 (OFC)、前运动皮质 (PMC)、小脑和右腹内侧前额叶皮质 (vmPFC) 的 rsFC 增强。在包含这五个 ROI 的网络中，IA 还显示 ROI-to-ROI rsFC 有所增加。使用配对的-在针灸 40 天之前和之后对 IA 受试者进行测试，针灸增加的 ROI-to-ROI rsFC 降低（归一化为 HC），包括右侧 VRP 与左侧 OFC、PMC 和小脑的 rsFC，以及左侧小脑的 rsFC 以及左侧 OFC、PMC 和右侧 vmPFC。此外，发现 IA 个体右侧 VRP 和左侧小脑之间 rsFC 强度的变化与针灸后互联网渴望的缓解呈正相关。 结论。这些发现验证了针灸对 IA 个体 VS 相关奖赏和习惯系统功能连接的调节作用，这可能部分代表了针灸对 IA 的潜在机制。