Imagine the brain as a complex machine with many moving parts. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is like a glitch in the system, causing memory and cognitive issues. But fear not! Acupuncture may hold the key to fixing this glitch. In a systematic review, researchers examined neuroimaging studies to understand how acupuncture affects the brains of MCI patients. By using brain imaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and more, they discovered that acupuncture leads to observable changes in specific brain regions involved in cognitive function, such as the cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. These changes are thought to be responsible for improvements in cognitive function seen in MCI patients who receive acupuncture treatment. This study highlights the importance of understanding not only the cognitive effects of acupuncture but also the underlying neurological mechanisms. Researchers can now delve deeper into uncovering how acupuncture impacts different brain networks involved in cognition. So if you or someone you know is dealing with MCI, explore the fascinating world of acupuncture and its potential benefits for the brain!

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a multifactorial and complex central neurodegenerative disease. Acupuncture appears to be an effective method for cognitive function improvement in MCI patients. Neural plasticity remaining in the MCI brain implies that acupuncture-associated benefits may not be limited to the cognitive function. Instead, neurological alternations in the brain play a vital role in corresponding to the cognitive improvement. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of cognitive function, leaving neurological findings relatively unclear. This systematic review summarized existing studies that used various brain imaging techniques to explore the neurological effect regarding acupuncture use for MCI treatment. Potential neuroimaging trials were searched, collected, and identified independently by two researchers. Four Chinese databases, four English databases, and additional sources were searched to identify studies reporting the use of acupuncture for MCI from the inception of databases until 1 June 2022. Methodological quality was appraised using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. In addition, general, methodological, and brain neuroimaging information was extracted and summarized to investigate the potential neural mechanisms by which acupuncture affects patients with MCI. In total, 22 studies involving 647 participants were included. The methodological quality of the included studies was moderate to high. The methods used included functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Acupuncture-induced brain alterations observed in those patients with MCI tended to be observable in the cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. The effect of acupuncture on MCI may play a role in regulating the default mode network, central executive network, and salience network. Based on these studies, researchers could extend the recent research focus from the cognitive domain to the neurological level. Future researches should develop additional relevant, well-designed, high-quality, and multimodal neuroimaging researches to detect the effects of acupuncture on the brains of MCI patients.

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