Microcirculatory characteristics of acupuncture points obtained by laser Doppler flowmetry

Abstract

Acupuncture points (acupoints) form part of the meridian system that constitutes the most fundamental concept in oriental medicine, but their physiological basis has not been clarified. In this study we employed laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) to extract the microcirculatory characteristics of acupoints and their surrounding tissues, and we interpreted the results from the viewpoint of microcirculatory physiology. Three groups of measurements were performed focusing on the following two important acupoints in oriental medicine in healthy volunteers (n = 13 for group A and n = 9 for groups B and C, respectively): Hoh-Ku (Li4, on the hand) and Ching-Ku (B64, on the foot). The two groups of measurements around Hoh-Ku (Groups A and B) were so designed as to examine the effect of the direction of the nonacupoint away from the acupoint, whereas comparison between the Hoh-Ku and the Ching-Ku measurements was to verify whether the phenomenon was consistent in the upper and the lower extremities. We found that the mean LDF signals were significantly larger at the acupoints than in their surrounding tissues (all p < 0.05), which indicates a larger blood supply into the microvascular beds of acupoints. The results indicate that the physical properties of the vascular structure of acupoints may affect the perfusion resistance, and thereby modulate the microcirculatory perfusion in accordance with tissue needs. This finding facilitates the localization of acupoints, helps in identifying the connection between microcirculatory physiology and responses to acupoint stimulation, and introduces an objective research method for understanding the mechanisms that underlie oriental medicine.

Change of Blood Perfusion in Hegu Acupoint After Contralateral Hegu Acupoint Was Stimulated

“…15 According to the previous study, the MBF was larger at the acupoints than in their surrounding tissues, which indicates that the MBF can be used as an index for discriminating differences in the microcirculatory conditions between acupoints and their surrounding tissues. 16 Thus in this study, the cross-interaction of Hegu acupoints through the index of the change ratio of MBF was investigated.…”

Peripheral microcirculatory hemodynamic changes in patients with myocardial ischemia

“…CBF and tissue oxygenation measurements play an important role in evaluating various conditions such as vasospasm, ischemia, injury and recovery processes and cutaneous implant function [1,2]. The ability to monitor non-invasively changes in the skin microcirculation level leads to improvements both in diagnosis and treatment of patients [3][4][5][6][7].…”

A Neurovascular Blood-Flow Modulation Model via Acupuncture Induced Nitric Oxide

“…It has been found that the mean of laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signals were significantly larger at the acupoints than in their surrounding tissues, which indicated a large volume of blood delivery to the microvascular beds of acupoints. These results indicate that the physical properties of the vascular structure of acupoints may affect the perfusion resistance, and modulate the microcirculatory perfusion [32].…”