Am J Chin Med. 2002 ; 30(2-3): 379-85.

Acupuncture stimulation of the vision-related acupoint (Bl-67) increases c-Fos expression in the visual cortex of binocularly deprived rat pups.

Lee H, Park HJ, Kim SA, Lee HJ, Kim MJ, Kim CJ, Chung JH, Lee H.

Department of Oriental Medical Science, Graduate School of East-West Medical Science, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea.

Our previous study with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated that acupuncture stimulation of the vision-related acupoint, B1-67, activates the visual cortex of the human brain. As a further study on the effect of B1-67 acupuncture stimulation on the visual cortex, we examined c-Fos expression in binocularly deprived rat pups. Binocular deprivation significantly reduced the number of c-Fos-positive cells in the primary visual cortex, compared with that of normal control rat pups. Interestingly, acupuncture stimulation of B1-67 resulted in a significant increase in the number of c-Fos-positive cells in the primary visual cortex, while acupuncture stimulation of other acupoints less important for visual function had no significant effect on c-Fos expression in the primary visual cortex. The results suggest the possibility of vision-related acupoint (B1-67) having an influence over the activity of the primary visual cortex.