This paper reviewed recent advances in clinical and basic researches of scalp acupuncture based on evoked potentials (EPs).The role and significance of various EPs in scalp acupuncture were analyzed and compared.Eventrelated potentials (ERPs) which occupied leading position in EPs application nowadays and the latest advances in the related components of its action were combined to make a prospect of the scientific research methods of scalp acupuncture in the treatment of cerebral apoplexy and other diseases.

This study was aimed to explore the immediate effect mechanism of the middle 2/5 of the vertex-temporal anterior oblique line in the treatment of stroke by scalp acupuncture using event-related brain potential (ERP).A total of 30 stroke cases who met the inclusion criteria and 25 healthy subjects were selected.Patients in both groups were treated by scalp acupuncture,with stimulation on the middle 2/5 of the vertex-temporal anterior oblique line on the right side.ERP was detected before acupuncture and 10 min after acupuncture in both groups.The muscle strength and neurological deficit score of the stroke group were also detected.At the end of the experiment,the movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) of both the left and right hand were extracted from the ERP.The results showed that after 10 min scalp acupuncture stimulation,the neurological deficit score of the stroke group was lower than that of the pretreatment (P ＜ 0.05);the muscle strength rating was higher than before (P ＜ 0.05).Before and after acupuncture,the amplitude of MRCPs on the diseased side of the stroke group was significantly decreased compared to before (P ＜ 0.05).It was concluded that the immediate effect of scalp acupuncture treatment of hemiplegia patients with stroke was definite.Its mechanism may be that acupuncture stimulates the motor cortex through the vertex-temporal anterior oblique line,reduces the energy loss of brain motion planning,activates the damaged brain movement related area cortex neurons,improves the processing efficiency of movement in the brain,so as to promote the improvement of hemiplegic limb motor function immediately.And we also observed that the healthy side brain has a compensatory effect,which suggested that in our clinical scalp acupuncture,bilateral stimulation may be more effective.