Applied Flow Imaging Technology On The Law Of The The Acupuncture Peripheral Effect

Peripheral rule of acupuncture effects concerns specificity of acupoint, propagation of effects along meridians and the communication between meridians. There were many descriptions in meridian theory but lack of scientific evidence. To study the peripheral rule of acupuncture effect, suitable index of the effect should been chosen and a large observed area was needed. Microcirculation is an important index in physiology. So the microvascular blood perfusion(BP) in skin was chosen and an advanced laser Doppler perfusion imager (LDPI, Perimed PIM II, made in Sweden) was used to observe the change of BP after acupuncture which was non-contacted and simultaneously. The image data was then analyzed deeply by software. Three experiments were done below.The first experiment was carried on twenty healthy people when Hegu(LI4) and a control point were needled. The BP on the whole side of hand was scanned by LDPI before(one image), during (five images) and after withdrawing needle(two images). Hegu or control point was needled randomly on different days at the same time period. The whole measured area was divided into ten sub-areas for calculating the average BP and change rate. The result showed that BP on acupuncture loci increased about 60% while the whole observed area increase 20% and no significant difference between Hegu and control points on various areas. As a similar increasing curve was found on most areas after acupuncture, the response was regarded as widely, non-specific response(WNSR). An area far from acupuncture points and large intestine meridian (LIM) was chosen as reference area which represents a pure WNSR. The BP in every area was divided by the BP in reference area at the same time to eliminate WNSR and relative BP and change rate were gotten. After the calculation, significantly higher BP on the areas of Sanjian(LI3), Erjian(LI2), efferent area of LIM and afferent area of LIM were found when acupuncture Hegu than acupuncture control point which showed a propagated effect along meridian(PEAM).The second experiment was done on twenty healthy people to compare the change rate of BP on calf between acupuncturing a non-acpoint on bladder meridian and a point beside bladder meridian near Chenshan (B57) . The experimental procedure was same as the first experiment. The whole observed area was divided into seven sub-areas to calculate BP. It was shown that acupuncture local response was significantly higher when acupuncturing non-acupoint on bladder meridian than that on the point beside the meridian. After a reference area far from acupoint and meridian was chosen to calculate the relative BP and change rate, a significantly higher increase on the area of bladder meridian was found when acupuncturing non-acupoint on meridian than acupuncturing the point beside the meridian.The third experiment was carried on forty sub-healthy people who privately said a history of low back pain. The observed area was low back and the acupuncture point were Weizhong(B40) and Yanglingquan(G34). The experimental procedure was same as above experiments. The observed area was divided into ten sub-areas and average BP were calculated. The result showed that a significant increase of BP when both acupuncture Weizhong and Yanglingquan but no significantly different between them. But the half whole area and bladder meridian areas of line one and line two on the same side of acupuncture were significantly higher when acupuncturing Weizhong than acupuncturing Yanglingquan. A transverse area on centripetal direction was chosen as the reference area and relative BP and change rate were calculated. The result showed that not only a larger difference on bladder meridian area of line one and line two on the same side but a significantly higher on the opposite bladder meridian area of line one and the whole back area when acupuncturing Weizhong than acupuncturing Yanglingquan. This result showed a specific increase of BP on low back by acupuncturing Weizhong, particularly on bladder meridian area on low back. The BP on the area along Governor Vessel meridian was also increased by both acupuncturing Weizhong and Yanglingquan but no significant difference bwtween them.In these studies, functional imaging technique and the method of eliminating WNSR by building reference area were firstly used. By the creative techniques, the propagated effect along meridians was found when acupuncturing acupoint. The effect was stronger on non-acupoint on meridian than the point beside meridian and specific increase of BP on low back by acupuncturing Weizhong were also found that verified the traditional meridian theory and further verified the mechanism model of peripheral transmission of acupuncture effect that was neural and body liquid relaying transmission put forward by Zhang Weibo in 1997.