{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T06:27:10Z","timestamp":1786602430902,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786579200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurol."],"abstract":"\n Background<\/jats:title>\n Whether dominant-side, non-dominant-side, or bilateral acupuncture produces comparable cortical activation remains unresolved. This study compared phase-specific cortical hemodynamic responses across these configurations at LR3-LI4 using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n \n In total, 53 healthy right-handed adults were randomized to dominant-side acupuncture (DS,\n n<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f13), bilateral (BI,\n n<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f15), non-dominant-side stimulation (NDS,\n n<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f14), or sham (SH,\n n<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f11). Cortical activity was measured across bilateral prefrontal, motor, and somatosensory regions during baseline, needle retention, and post-removal sessions. Functional connectivity and graph-theoretic metrics were analyzed as complementary network-level outcomes.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n During retention, DS showed greater left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and frontopolar area oxygenated hemoglobin (FPA HbO) activation than BI (DLPFC: mean difference\u202f=\u202f0.110, 95% CI 0.036 to 0.184,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.005; FPA: 0.146, 95% CI 0.044 to 0.248,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.007) and SH (DLPFC: 0.070,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.040; FPA: 0.114,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.034). NDS showed limited prefrontal effects but greater right S1 activation than BI (mean difference\u202f=\u202f0.179, 95% CI 0.079 to 0.279,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001). BI exhibited biphasic somatosensory responses, with initial right S1 deactivation during retention (\n t<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f\u22122.944,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.010) followed by post-removal rebound (\n t<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f3.188,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.006). Functional connectivity analysis suggested configuration-specific associative patterns: DS showed dynamic frontoparietal-somatosensory coupling, BI showed delayed frontoparietal-motor connectivity enhancement, and NDS showed delayed cross-hemispheric sensorimotor coupling. All active groups showed enhanced bilateral FPA and right DLPFC-FPA connectivity compared with SH post-removal (\n F<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f3.207,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.031;\n F<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f3.189, p\u202f=\u202f0.031). Graph analysis further indicated phase-related network reorganization, with significant effects for global efficiency (FDR\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.021) and clustering coefficient (FDR\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.024).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n In healthy right-handed adults, LR3-LI4 needling configuration was associated with distinct phase-specific cortical response patterns. DS was associated with greater retention-phase prefrontal HbO activation than BI; NDS showed a more somatosensory-dominant pattern, and BI showed attenuated retention-phase responses followed by post-removal network changes. These findings provide short-term neurophysiological evidence that the needling side may influence cortical responses, but they do not establish clinical superiority. Patient-based studies are needed to determine whether these cortical signatures predict therapeutic outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2026.1815369","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T05:32:51Z","timestamp":1786599171000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["LR3-LI4 needling side and configuration are associated with phase-specific cortical activation and network organization: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study in healthy adults"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yan","family":"Xie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Second Clinical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"]},{"name":"The Fifth Clinical College of Guangzhou Medical University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hanrou","family":"Ouyang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Fifth Clinical College of Guangzhou Medical University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaodan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Fifth Clinical College of Guangzhou Medical University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoru","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Fifth Clinical College of Guangzhou Medical University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haoran","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Fifth Clinical College of Guangzhou Medical University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenbin","family":"Fu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Second Clinical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"]},{"name":"Department of Acupuncture, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"739","DOI":"10.1177\/1533317514536600","article-title":"Acupuncture stimulation of Taichong (Liv3) and Hegu (LI4) modulates the default mode network activity in Alzheimer\u2019s disease","volume":"29","author":"Liang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Dement"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1097\/HM9.0000000000000009","article-title":"Study of the 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