Investigation Into Electro-Osmosis Flow Model In Human Meridian System

A numerical study has been performed on the proposed bio-fluid dynamics model to explore some major human meridian characteristics in Chinese medicine.The proposed meridian model involves tissue fluids,which contain ions and nutrition,in the meridian passage.The tissue fluid under investigation can interact with the blood in the capillary vessel at the acupuncture points through a complex electro-osmosis transport process occurring in the meridian path.The investigated physical domain consists of 14 meridian paths with 668 acupuncture points,which are connected with their associated small meridian bodies(SMBs).Based on the properly chosen physiological coefficients,the simulated mean tissue fluid velocity has been shown to have a magnitude of 3.37cm/min(3D model result).This magnitude is observed to be increased and decreased with the hydraulic pressure of the arteriole with the maximum and minimum values of 4.34 cm/min(3D model result)and 2.40 cm/min(3D model result),respectively.Our simulated results are in good agreement with the experimental findings reported in the literature.In the meridian,both blood and tissue fluid flows exhibited complex electro-osmosis nonlinear behaviour.The immediate response due to an externally applied acupuncture is analyzed to reveal the elliptic meridian nature,which is intrinsic in the body fluid.The interaction between the body fluid and blood flow as the master and mother,and the influence of the blood circulation on the meridian system and vice versa are also analyzed in detail.Furthermore,meridian is considered as a passage to proceed the electroosmosis transport.Due to the influence of electric term in the momentum equation,the boundary layer thickness is thinner than the common laminar flow under the same physical coefficients.Through this electroosmosis transport flow model,the phenomena of Chi-blood interaction can be revealed in detail.During acupuncture,how the mast cell degranulation can result in meridian high voltage and transport of electric wave and current has been properly translated by this model.The predicted results are useful for revealing the physical mechanism in acupuncture and electric-acupuncture treatments.In the case study of the whole body meridian physiological model,the mean velocities of the zang-fu spleen and stomach were the lowest when the microvascular pressure in the model was halved to simulate the weak phenomena of the zang-fu spleen and stomach.The results show that the twelve meridians’ mean flow velocities can show the energy levels of zang-fu.Further more,if acupuncturing the acupoints Hegu,Zusanli,the mean flow velocities of meridians spleen,stomach,lung,large intestine will grow up,synchronized.This results in line with traditional Chinese medicine theory.At the same time,before acupuncture,the soil and gold energies in the five elements are low.After acupuncture,the soil and gold energies increase,but wood and water energies decrease.This result is also consistent with the theory of the five elements in TCM.