Objective To observe the effect of Shugan Tiaoshen acupuncture（acupuncture for soothing the liver and regulating the mentality） combined with western medication on depression and sleep quality in the patients with depression-insomnia comorbidity due to COVID-19 quarantine

and investigate the potential mechanism from the perspective of cortical excitability. Methods Sixty patients with depression-insomnia comorbidity due to COVID-19 quarantine were randomly divided into an acupuncture group and a sham-acupuncture group

30 cases in each one. The patients of both groups were treated with oral administration of sertraline hydrochloride tablets. In the acupuncture group

Shugan Tiaoshen acupuncture was supplemented. Body acupuncture was applied to Yintang（GV 24+）

Baihui（GV 20）

Hegu（LI 4）

Zhaohai（KI 6）

Qihai（CV 6）

etc. The intradermal needling was used at Xin（CO15）

Gan（CO12） and Shen（CO10）. In the sham-acupuncture group

the sham-acupuncture was given at the same points as the acupuncture group. The compensatory treatment was provided at the end of follow-up for the patients in the sham-acupuncture group. In both groups

the treatment was given once every two days

3 times a week

for consecutive 8 weeks. The self-rating depression scale（SDS） and insomnia severity index（ISI） scores were compared between the two groups before and after treatment and 1 month after the end of treatment（follow-up） separately. The cortical excitability indexes（resting motor threshold [r MT]

motor evoked potential amplitude [MEP-A]

cortical resting period [CSP]） and the level of serum 5-hydroxytryptamine（5-HT） were measured before and after treatment in the two groups. Results After treatment and in follow-up

SDS and ISI scores were decreased in both groups compared with those before treatment（P<0.05）

and the scores in the acupuncture group were lower than those in the sham-acupuncture group（P<0.05）

and the decrease range in the acupuncture group after treatment was larger than that in the sham-acupuncture group（P<0.05）. After treatment

rMT was reduced（P<0.05）

while MEP-A and CSP were increased（P<0.05） in the acupuncture group compared with that before treatment. The levels of serum 5-HT in both groups were increased compared with those before treatment（P<0.05）. The rMT in the acupuncture group was lower than that in the sham-acupuncture group

while MEP-A and CSP

as well as the level of serum 5-HT were higher in the acupuncture group in comparison with the sham-acupuncture group（P < 0.05）. Conclusion Shugan Tiaoshen acupuncture combined with western medication can relieve depression and improve sleep quality in the patients with depression-insomnia comorbidity due to COVID-19 quarantine

which is probably related to rectifying the imbalanced excitatory and inhibitory neuronal functions.