Temporal Characteristics of Microstate Changes Representing the Neuromodulation Effect of Acupuncture at PC6 With Twirling Manipulation

Acupuncture at pericardium 6 (PC6) has been clinically found to alleviate anxiety disorders and is thought to be related to regulatory effects on the autonomic nervous system, central nervous system, and default mode network. However, the relationship between the temporal characteristics of microstate changes and the related PC6 acupoints with twirling frequency manipulation remains unclear. In this study, resting-state electroencephalogram signals from 10 healthy participants were recorded at the PC6/sham acupoint with strong/weak twirling frequency manipulation. Electroencephalogram microstate analysis was conducted to obtain microstate maps and microstate parameters under different conditions. Our results showed the regulatory effects of PC6 on microstate classes C and D; the occurrence of class C was related to twirling frequency, and the duration of class D was related to acupuncture manipulation. Taken together, our findings indicate that the temporal characteristics of the microstates of classes C and D maybe essential for PC6 acupuncture with twirling frequency manipulation.