{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T04:59:25Z","timestamp":1790657965373,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790640000000},"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":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To observe the modulatory effects of acupuncture in early-stage non-tremor Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) patients using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), and to determine the correlation between its changes and clinical indicators.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This observational study included 35 patients with early Parkinson\u2019s disease who received multi-target acupuncture treatment combined with regular levodopa therapy (twice weekly for 12\u202fweeks) in the traditional Chinese medicine department. They were classified as the observation group and the study period was from January 2023 to December 2024. The observation group received acupuncture and underwent rs-fMRI scanning at baseline and post-treatment. A healthy control group underwent a single rs-fMRI scan at baseline. Post-treatment imaging and clinical data from the observation group were compared with those of the healthy control group. Primary outcomes were changes in rs-fMRI-derived degree centrality (DC), functional connectivity (FC), and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF). Secondary outcomes included clinical scale improvements and correlations between imaging metrics and clinical scores.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      After treatment, the observation group showed significant improvements in MDS-UPDRS-III, MoCA, 10MWT, TUG, and PDQ-39 scores (all\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt;\u202f0.001). However, all indicators except MoCA remained significantly different after treatment (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt;\u202f0.001). fMRI analyses revealed significant post-treatment decreases in right precuneus DC and its FC with the left precuneus (both\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt;\u202f0.001), the fALFF in medial superior frontal gyrus\/anterior cingulate cortex increased(\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt;\u202f0.001). The change (post-treatment minus pre-treatment) in right precuneus DC was positively correlated with the change (post-treatment minus pre-treatment) in MDS-UPDRS-III scores (r\u202f=\u202f0.343,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      =\u202f0.043) and negatively correlated with the change (post-treatment minus pre-treatment) in MoCA scores (r\u202f= \u22120.533,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt;\u202f0.001).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Acupuncture treatment was associated with improvements in motor function, walking speed, and cognition in early-stage non-tremor PD, with potential mechanisms involving downregulated precuneus DC\/FC and enhanced local activity. Furthermore, the change in right precuneus DC, which correlated significantly with both motor and cognitive improvements, may serve as a potential neuroimaging biomarker for treatment-induced clinical recovery.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2026.1924955","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T04:47:43Z","timestamp":1790657263000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Brain functional mechanisms of acupuncture treatment for early-stage non-tremor Parkinson\u2019s disease: a resting-state fMRI study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yanjin","family":"Qin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology","place":["Macau, Macao SAR, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Runni","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Zhuhai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine","place":["Zhuhai, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rujun","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Imaging, Zhuhai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine","place":["Zhuhai, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.10.22.25338533","article-title":"Global and regional patterns of Parkinson\u2019s disease: temporal trends, inequality gaps, and projections to 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