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The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, Vol. 35, No. 2,
231240
2007 World Scientific Publishing Company
Institute for Advanced Research in Asian Science and
Medicine
231
Correspondence to: Professor Shu-Sen Xie, Institute of Laser and
OptoElectronics Technology, FujianNormal University, Fuzhou,
350007, China. Tel: (+86) 591-8340-8080, Fax: (+86) 591-8346-5373,
E-mail:
[email protected]
Appearance of Human Meridian-Like
Structure and Acupoints and Its Time
Correlation by Infrared Thermal Imaging
Hong-Qin Yang,*Shu-Sen Xie,*Xiang-Long Hu,Li Chen*and Hui
Li*
*Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for
Medicine of Ministry of Education,
Institute of Laser and OptoElectronics Technology,Fujian Normal
University
Fuzhou 350007,ChinaFujian Institute of Traditional Chinese
Medicine,Fuzhou,350003,China
Abstract: The meridians and acupoints of human bodies at natural
condition are investigated
among 30 healthy volunteers by infrared thermal imaging
technique. The results give clear
evidence of the existence of infrared radiant tracks along human
meridian courses. The time
dependent evolution of the infrared radiant track is observed
for the first time. The time rhythm
of acupoints is also studied. Our findings not only support the
view that infrared radiant tracks
along human meridian courses is a normal vital and physiological
phenomenon appearing
in human beings, but also offer a potential method for
noninvasive diagnostic by studying
the physiological function and pathological change of meridians
or acupoints by means of
thermography.
Keywords: Infrared Imaging; Acupuncture Meridian; Natural
Appearance; Time Correlation;
Appearance Laws.
Introduction
The meridian theory is an important component and the guiding
principle for the clinical
practice of traditional Chinese medicine. It has achieved good
results over the last two
thousand years. It has also recently begun to gain wide
acceptance in the West. However,
it has still failed to achieve the recognition within the
mainstream medical circles because
evidence for the existence of acupuncture meridians is
inadequate or elusive. Many studies
over the past 40 years have shown that electric conductivity on
acupuncture points is lower
than that of neighboring points (Johng et al., 2002; Zhang et
al., 2004). Other attempts
to visualize the course of human meridians by means of different
physical-technical
methods are presented (Li and Li, 2003; Wang, 1984). However,
these methods are mainly
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H.-Q. YANG et al.232
invasive and inconvenient. According to traditional Chinese
medicine, the vital energy
flows through a system of channels connecting the surface with
internal organs which
are called meridians. Infrared imaging technique is particularly
suitable for studying themeridians from the view of energy or
function point, and has drawn wide attention in
recent years. However, to the best of our knowledge, most of the
researchers mainly focus
on the temperature measurement of the acupoints and its
application in thermal disease
diagnose or evaluation, but not the meridian structure (Lo,
2002; Ovechkin et al., 2001 and
2003). Schlebusch et al.(2005) recently reported the meridian
structure of the body after
moxibustion. We have examined the infrared radiant
characteristics of the meridian-like
channels and acupuncture points by thermal imaging technology
since 1993, and reported
some preliminary results (Hu et al., 1996 and 2001). However, no
further studies have
been reported and the hypothesis of the meridian and acupoints
requires more experimental
supports with more advanced techniques.
The new infrared imaging technique (Yang et al., 2005) has
provided a good way to
explore the existence of the meridian and acupoints. However,
there are no detailed and
direct studies on the physiological function of the meridians
and acupoints by the infrared
imaging technique. In this study, we apply the infrared imaging
technique to study the
meridians and acupoints on human body. Our results are compared
to previous studies and
new findings are reported.
Participants and Methods
Participants
Thirty healthy volunteers (18 males, 12 females) were recruited
from different departments
of Fujian Normal University (mean age SD, 24.0 3.0 years). The
subjects had no history
of chronic diseases and were healthy at the time of enrolment.
The experimental protocol
was approved of by the Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Science
and Technology for
Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Fujian Normal University
and Fujian Normal
University Hospital. All subjects agreed to participate in the
study and provided written
informed consent.
Experimental Devices
The infrared thermal imaging device used in this study (Bioyear
Group INC. Beijing)
consists of two parts, the data obtaining and analyzing system
put in one room and the
infrared sensor detecting system put in the dark room, as shown
in Fig. 1. The device
operates at a wavelength ranging from 812 m and temperature
ranging from 10C
to 50C, which has the temperature sensitivity of 0.05C and the
spatial resolution of
1.0 mrad at temperature 30.0C. The device is ready for use
within 30 sec and the heat
radiation from human body can be recorded and analyzed online.
The temperature of the
examination dark room is 27.0 1.0C. A black body device (HFY-15,
Beijing) was used
to calibrate the device before making measurements on
subjects.
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MERIDIAN AND ACUPOINTS BY INFRARED THERMAL IMAGING 233
Experimental Procedures
In order to maintain thermal equilibrium, each subject must stay
alone in the examination
dark room undressed around 30 min before taking the thermograms.
Investigations were
conducted without any heat source disturbance from outside,
namely the under natural
condition, at the Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and
Technology for Medicine
of Ministry of Education, Fujian Normal University. The operator
guides the subject to start
the experiment and make some specific postures for studying via
a special-line talkback.
Results
Some typical natural appearances along meridians drawn in an
acupuncture textbook
(Cheng, 1999) were displayed by use of infrared thermal imaging
technique, as shown
from Fig. 2 to Fig. 9. In these pictures, the color code is
white for the hottest, followed byred, yellow, green and blue, with
black representing the coldest temperature.
Figure 2 shows the infrared radiant track along the Lung
Meridian of Hand-Taiyin and
the Heart Meridian of Hand-Shaoyin and the Liver Meridians of
Foot-Jueyin on a 19-year-
old healthy man.
Figure 3 gives the infrared radiant track along the Spleen
Meridians of Foot-Taiyin on
a 21-year-old healthy man. Furthermore, from Fig. 3, the
Conception Vessel can also be
visualized.
Figure 4 shows the infrared radiant track along the Conception
Vessel and the Stomach
Meridians on a 26-year-old healthy man.
Figure 5 displays the infrared radiant track with low
temperature along the Governor
Vessel on a 25-year-old healthy woman.
Figure 1. The infrared thermal imaging system.
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H.-Q. YANG et al.234
Figure 2. Infrared radiant track along the Lung Meridian of
Hand-Taiyin, the Heart Meridian of Hand-Shaoyin
and the Liver Meridians of Foot-Jueyin on a 19-year-old healthy
man.
Figure 3. Infrared radiant track along the Spleen Meridians of
Foot-Taiyin on a 21-year-old healthy man.
Figure 4. Infrared radiant track along the Conception Vessel and
the Stomach Meridians on a 26-year-old man.
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MERIDIAN AND ACUPOINTS BY INFRARED THERMAL IMAGING 235
Figure 6 to Fig. 9 show the infrared radiant tracks change
versus time and the
reproducibility of the appearance of meridian. Figure 6 and Fig.
7 were obtained from
a 26-year-old man (a master student), while Figure 8 and Figure
9 were obtained from a
22-year-old man (a senior student). Figure 6 and Fig. 8 show the
Governor Vessels of the
two persons at four different time in the daytime respectively.
Figure 7 and Fig. 9 give
the reproducibility of the appearance of infrared radiant track
along the Large Intestine
Meridian acupoints on these two persons respectively (the former
from 29 March to 28
April 2006; the latter from 23 May to 28 June 2006).
Figure 5. Infrared radiant track with low temperature along the
Governor Vessel on a 25-year-old healthy
woman.
Figure 6. Infrared radiant track along the Governor Vessel
changes versus time in the daytime on a 26-year-old
healthy man.
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H.-Q. YANG et al.236
Figure 7. The reproducibility of the appearance of infrared
radiant track along the Large Intestine Meridian of
Hand-Yangming acupoints in one month on a 26-year-old healthy
man.
Figure 8. Infrared radiant track along the Governor Vessel
changes versus time in the daytime on a 22-year-old
healthy man.
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MERIDIAN AND ACUPOINTS BY INFRARED THERMAL IMAGING 237
Figure 9. The reproducibility of the appearance of infrared
radiant track along the Large Intestine Meridian of
Hand-Yangming acupoints in one month on a 22-year-old healthy
man.
9:30 11:30 14:30 17:00 19:30 22:00
33.4
33.6
33.8
34.0
34.2
34.4
34.6
34.8
35.0
35.2
35.4
35.6
35.8
36.0
36.2
36.4
Temperature
Time
A
B
C
D
Figure 10. The time rhythm of the temperature fields of
acupoints and non-acupoints on one subject in the
daytime.
The time correlation of the temperature fields of acupoints in
one meridian channel
and different meridian channel and non-acupoint in the daytime
is also studied. Figure 10
gives the time rhythm of the temperature of the Jianyu point,
(LI15, black line B), Binaopoint, (LI14, red line C) on the Large
Intestine Meridian of Hand-Yangming (LI), the
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H.-Q. YANG et al.238
Shenque (RN8, blue line A) on the Conception Vessel (RN) and the
non-acupoint outside
the meridians (green line D) respectively.
Discussion
A commonly raised argument over the meridians is whether the
mechanism of acupuncture
and moxibustion lies in the nervous system. However, the nervous
system cannot be used
to the objective existence of the famous phenomena of
generating-sensation along the
meridian (Zhu et al., 2002), especially the blocking
characteristic of generating-sensation
by the external pressure or local cooling. Furthermore,
meridians and acupoints, being
the earliest evolved and also the most fundamental system, will
definitely utilize the later
evolved systems, such as the nervous system, immune system,
etc., to accomplish the task
of coordinating the whole body. If we focus only on one system,
such as the nervous
system, the body would be difficult to coordinate parts that do
not have nerves. Therefore,
we believe that the effect of acupuncture is based on the
meridian theory.
In spite of the successful application of the infrared thermal
imaging technique
in acupuncture meridian research to a certain extent, some
people still believe that the
infrared radiant track with high temperature along meridian
courses over human body
surface may be the thermal image of blood vessel, including
superficial vein or the artery
(Wang, 1984), which, as a matter of fact, can be distinguished
by many ways, such as by
Chinese acupuncture charts, observing the thermogram changing
with time, and changing
the postures for imaging etc. Our study demonstrated that the
infrared radiant track hadlittle to do with the thermal images of
blood vessels based on the following facts. Firstly,
the thermal images of blood vessels look regular and continuous,
while the radiant tracks
along meridians may change with time. Secondly, it is well-known
that there are no any
vertical blood vessel on the body back and around the abdomen
areas, where several
infrared radiant tracks along meridian courses can be observed,
as shown in Figs. 3 and
4. Furthermore, in our study, we found that the infrared radiant
track sometimes takes on
a lower temperature strip, as shown in Fig. 5, which cannot be
explained in terms of the
physiology of blood vessels. Finally, the thermal image of blood
vessel will change little
in time.
The temperature over the meridian lines or acupuncture points
compared to thesurrounding areas can be hyperthermic, hypothermic
or isothermic (Ovechkin et al., 2001).
It is up to the temperature gradient between the meridian lines
or the acupoints and its
surrounding skin areas. If it is isothermic, it cannot be
observed in thermogram. As shown
in Fig. 10, the time rhythm of the temperature field of the
acupoints and non-acupoint is
similar to the time rhythm of the body. However, the change pace
of the temperature varies
from different acupoints and meridians. In addition, the change
extent of nonacupoint is
greater than that of the acupoint, and this is the reason that
the meridians or acupoints can
be visualized at some time, but not at some other time.
From the above analysis, we may come to the conclusions of the
laws of the appearance
of human meridians, as follows:
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MERIDIAN AND ACUPOINTS BY INFRARED THERMAL IMAGING 239
1. The Governor Vessel, the Large Intestine Meridian and the
Three Yin Meridians of
Hand show higher appearance rates of all the main fourteen
meridians under natural
condition. The appearance rate of the Governor Vessel, in
particular, is about 71.12%in our study.
2. Even for the same meridian or acupuncture point, the
appearance of meridian-like
or acupoints varies from individuals. Some can have one meridian
course over skin
surface, others can have two or more meridian courses in one
thermogram, or others
may have no obvious meridian courses sometimes. Also the length
of the infrared
radiant tracks varies from person to person, and it can change
in time as well, which
may be attributed to the body function status of the
individual.
3. Under natural condition, the observation of the meridian-like
structure and the
acupoints by infrared radiant track depends on the subjects, the
time, the specifications
of the thermal imaging system and the surrounding conditions,
and so on.
4. The temperature distribution over the acupuncture points or
meridian lines cannot
remain constant, it changes with time. For the same subject, it
can be reproducible.
In conclusion, we have found that some parts of human
meridian-like structure and
acupoints can be visualized or displayed by means of the
advanced and sensitive infrared
thermal imaging technique under natural condition. The infrared
radiant track indicates time
correlation, which suggests that the infrared radiant track
along human meridian courses is
a normal vital and physiological phenomenon appearing in human
being. Compared with
other researchers works (Lo, 2002; Schlebusch et al., 2005; Hu
et al., 1996 and 2001), the
results in this study are unique, reliable and reproducible. In
short, this study for the first
time gives the direct evidence of the existence of the meridians
and acupoints structure
from the body physiological function, and may be a reliable
basis for further clarifying the
physical nature of the merdians and acupoints.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under grant
No. 60578056 and No. 30572309, the Science Research Foundation
of Ministry of Health
& United Fujian Provincial Health and Education Project for
Tackling the Key Research ofChina under grant No.
WKJ2005-2-004.
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