Meridian-sinew physical therapy modulates regional brain function and neurotransmitter spatial correlations in...

Non-pharmacological somatic interventions can modulate brain function via body-brain communication, yet the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. This study used resting-state fMRI and JuSpace spatial correlation to investigate how meridian-sinew therapy affects regional brain function and its spatial coupling with neurotransmitter systems in healthy volunteers.

Forty-two healthy volunteers underwent resting-state fMRI and a 2-back working memory task before and after a 50 min meridian-sinew therapy session. We quantified changes in local brain activity using ALFF and ReHo. JuSpace was applied to examine spatial correlations between functional alteration maps and neurotransmitter receptor/transporter density atlases.

Post-intervention reaction time in the 2-back task was significantly reduced. Neuroimaging revealed increased ALFF and ReHo in the prefrontal cortex, and decreased ReHo in the left putamen and insula. Spatial correlation analyses showed that ALFF changes were significantly correlated with 5-HT2a, CB1, mGluR5, DAT, NAT, NMDA, SERT, and VAChT distributions, while ReHo changes correlated only with SERT.

Meridian-sinew therapy modulates regional brain physiology by enhancing prefrontal neural activity and suppressing subcortical interoceptive processing, accompanied by improved working memory efficiency. These functional changes show consistent spatial associations with multiple neurotransmitter systems. Our findings provide multimodal neuroimaging evidence for understanding how somatic interventions shape brain function through body-brain communication pathways.