Figure 5

Illustration of variations of modulating effect of acupuncture over different acupoints. Comparisons of the functional connectivity were conducted between the visual acupoint group (GB37 or BL60) and the non-visual acupoint group (KI 8) during the late phase of acupuncture (Run 3): (A) GB37 vs. KI 8; (B) BL60 vs. KI8. The two sample t-test were used to determine significant between-group differences (P < 0.005 with a cluster size of 5 voxels). (C) The averaged time courses of fMRI BOLD signals in the occipital lobe, where showed significant between-group differences (circles on A and B). The temporal responses revealed almost opposite response patterns after stimulations over visual acupoint and the non-visual acupoint, i.e. GB37 vs. KI 8 and BL60 vs. KI8. The correlation coefficient between GB37 and KI 8 was -0.35 (P < 0.05, Bonferroni correction) and that of BL60 vs. KI8 was -0.18 (P < 0.05, Bonferroni correction).