BACKGROUND: The functional MRI(fMRI),a harmless research method,has brought new perspective to the understanding of ancient needling methods. The correlation between meridian points and cerebrum has been studied with fMRI in different cerebral regions.OBJECTIVE: To observe the correlation between Kuangming( Luo-Connection Point,GB37)and Taichong(Shu-Stream and Yuan-Source point,Liv3)with fMRI in different cerebral regions.DESIGN: Randomized controlled experimental study based on healthy volunteers of medical college.SETTING: Department of acupuncture in a medical university of traditional Chinese medicine,basic medical college in a medical university of traditional Chinese medicine,medical radiology center of medical college of University Freiburg in Germany.PARTICIPANTS: This study was conducted in Medical Radiology Center of Medical College of University Freiburg in Germany in June 1997. In this study,altogether 19 healthy volunteers,4 males and 15 females with normal vision,were selected. All of them were medical students without any previous acupuncture experience and history of neurology and psychosis. All healthy volunteers were randomly divided into three groups,including visual stimulation + one- sided needling group( n =7,2 males and 5 females),visual stimulation + double-sided needling group (n = 6,1 male and 5 females)and only double-sided needling group( n = 6,1 male and 5 females).METHODS: The response of visual cortex and the relative areas,and whether there comes inducing function were observed by fMRI during puncturing at kuangming and taichong. All subjects were informed about the range of possible acupuncture sensation they might experience during needle manipulation before entering the magnet field. For acupuncture,a stainless immagnet acupuncture needle(with a diameter of 0.25 mm and a length of 30 mm. Huatuo Brand. Made in Suzhou Medical Inc. ) was used. All subjects were performed by one experienced acupuncturist.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The changes,extent,delayed response,and time fluctuation of the cerebral cortex hemoglobin saturation level(BOLD).Whether the cerebral visual cortex domain was activated or not.RESULTS: There were no change of BOLD in visual cortex during visual stimulation and inserting needle at Kuangming and Taichong in visual stimulation +single sided needling group and visual stimulation +double-sided needling group. There were changes of BOLD of visual cortex in all subjects of the three groups during the period of manipulating needle. Among them six cases were found to have in the insular lobe,temporo-inferior parietal lobule,superior colliculus lobe,cuneate lobe and occipital mid-gyri.CONCLUSION: Single-sided or double-sided continuous needle stimulation can change the BOLD of the related regions of the cerebrum,but the change is unrelated with the insertion method and visual stimulation.

Ulcerative colitis(UC)is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease caused by many factors including colonic inflammation and microbiota dysbiosis.Previous studies have indicated that celastrol(CSR)has strong anti-inflammatory and immune-inhibitory effects.Here,we investigated the effects of CSR on colonic inflammation and mucosal immunity in an experimental colitis model,and addressed the mechanism by which CSR exerts the protective effects.We characterized the ther-apeutic effects and the potential mechanism of CSR on treating UC using histological staining,intestinal permeability assay,cytokine assay,flow cytometry,fecal microbiota transplantation(FMT),16S rRNA sequencing,untargeted metabolomics,and cell differentiation.CSR administra-tion significantly ameliorated the dextran sodium sulfate(DSS)-induced colitis in mice,which was evidenced by the recovered body weight and colon length as well as the decreased disease activity index(DAI)score and intestinal permeability.Meanwhile,CSR down-regulated the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and up-regulated the amount of anti-inflammatory mediators at both mRNA and protein levels,and improved the balances of Treg/Thl and Treg/Th1 7 to maintain the colonic immune homeostasis.Notably,all the therapeutic effects were exerted in a gut microbiota-dependent manner.Furthermore,CSR treatment increased the gut microbiota diversity and changed the compositions of the gut microbiota and metabolites,which is probably associated with the gut microbiota-mediated protective effects.In conclusion,this study provides the strong evidence that CSR may be a promising therapeutic drug for UC.