The Clinical Guidelines For Basis, The Main Pathogenesis Is Liver Storing Blood Zang-fu Theories

The TCM terms "liver storing blood" and "liver controlling conveyance and dispersion" were first used to describe the liver’s physiological function in national textbooks of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the1970’s in the People’s Republic of China. The Huongdi’s Internal Classic makes no mention of the term "liver controlling conveyance and dispersion," and the interpretation of this term has been an ongoing debate. The first section of this paper attempts to combine the TCM classics database with linguistics and Chinese philosophy, based on TCM literature, in order to clarify and understand the lineage of these two terms. The second section explores associated theories of visceral manifestations for the two terms, in particular in the context of Lin Zheng Zhi Nan, clinical documentation of Qing dynasty’s master Ye Tian Shi.This paper is a part of the973Academic Project on the visceral manifestations of the terms "liver storing blood" and "liver controlling conveyance and dispersion," whose primary objective is to systemically verify the visceral manifestations of these two terms, clarify their historical lineage, gain command of their theoretical meanings, contents and mutual relationship, in order to develop and innovate new theoretical models for the visceral manifestations of TCM liver.The term "liver controlling conveyance and dispersion" can be summarized to have been developed from:1. a pathological concept of the Internal Classic’s nineteen items concerning pathogenesis to physical function2. a concept of the kidney and liver as a unit to liver as an independent entity3. the shift in emphasis on the word "dispersion" to "conveyance"4. a wide range of applications of this term to a well-defined parameterRegarding "liver storing blood" in relationship to the liver’s influence on qi, the earliest mention of its clinical application includes the nourishing function of blood and the counterflow of liver qi, causing bleeding of the upper orifices as a result. The bleeding of lower orifices, such as gynecological metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, later attributes "liver not storing blood" to its cause. In the Ming and the Qing dynasties, with the development of "liver controlling conveyance and dispersion,""liver not storing blood" also provides an explanation for the cause of hematochezia and hematuria.In the second section, the meaning of Lin Zheng Zhi Nan’s theories of visceral manifestations of "liver storing blood" and "liver controlling conveyance and dispersion,’ as well as the interrelationship of the two terms encompassed by the term "yin in property and yang in function of liver," is further examined. First,"liver controlling conveyance and dispersion" connotes the liver’s ability to reach balance with constraining and counterflow of liver qi. Second, when liver fails to store blood, it may create mental conditions such as instability, excessive dreams and insomnia. It could also lead to gynecological metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, as well as vomit of blood and bleeding gum resulting from the counterflow of liver qi. The characteristic of the liver in Lin Zheng Zhi Nan is that it governs motion and ascension, influencing all other organs and providing vitality for life.