Characteristics analysis of acupuncture electroencephalograph based on mutual information Lempelben-Ziv complexity

As a convenient approach to the characterization of cerebral cortex electrical information, electroencephalograph (EEG) has potential clinical application in monitoring the acupuncture effects. In this paper, a method composed of the mutual information method and Lempel-Ziv complexity method (MILZC) is proposed to investigate the effects of acupuncture on the complexity of information exchanges between different brain regions based on EEGs. In the experiments, eight subjects are manually acupunctured at ‘Zusanli’acupuncture point (ST-36) with different frequencies (i.e., 50, 100, 150, and 200 times/min) and the EEGs are recorded simultaneously. First, MILZC values are compared in general. Then average brain connections are used to quantify the effectiveness of acupuncture under the above four frequencies. Finally, significance index P values are used to study the spatiality of the acupuncture effect on the brain. Three main findings are obtained: (ⅰ) MILZC values increase during the acupuncture; (ⅱ) manual acupunctures (MAs) with 100 times/min and 150 times/min are more effective than with 50 times/min and 200 times/min; (ⅲ) contralateral hemisphere activation is more prominent than ipsilateral hemisphere's. All these findings suggest that acupuncture contributes to the increase of brain information exchange complexity and the MILZC method can successfully describe these changes.     

不同手法及频率针刺神经电信号的编码特征提取

神经系统通过时间空间编码的形式表征外部刺激所包含的信息,针刺作为神经系统的一种外部刺激,使神经元产生丰富的放电模式. 为揭示针刺信息传导与作用规律,设计了不同手法以及不同频率的针刺作用足三里时,采集脊髓背根神经电信号的实验.通过对放电波形进行小波特征提取和类选算法把放电波形进行归类,然后提取出不同刺激下的时间编码和空间编码特征. 接着使用平均放电率和编码异质性系数量化了不同针刺刺激下编码的特征. 研究发现捻转法与提插法产生的神经电信号差异较大, 这种差异主要表现在针刺手法对于参与编码神经元的选择性,但对于不同频率的针刺作用, 这种编码选择性并不明显.此外,数据分析中还发现了神经系统对于针刺作用的适应性和饱和特性.