文档介绍：Liquid Crystals, 2001, Vol. 28, No. 11, 1597± 1601
Appearance of liquid crystals in acupuncture points
MA WENTAO†‡, TONG HUA†, HU JIMING†* and CAO LIANXIN†
†Department of Analysis-Measurement Science, Wuhan University,
Wuhan 430072, PR China
‡Faculty of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China
(Received 17 January 2001; accepted 23 March 2001)
Liquid crystals of biomolecules occur ubiquitously in biological systems, and to study the
physiological mechanism of acupuncture, methods involving the detection of liquid crystals
have been introduced. It is revealed that liquid crystals appear in the acupuncture point
Zusanli 15 min after the appropriate stimulus in the acupuncture point Jiexi, which is located
on the same meridian with Zusanli according to the Meridian Theory of Chinese Medicine,
whereas liquid crystals are rarely observed in the points beside the Zusanli in the same
condition. Subsequent studies on position of the liquid crystals detected, using energy
dispersive X-ray analysis and histochemical analysis, suggest that the liquid crystals consist
of proteins and perhaps phospholipids. The results show that these biomolecules, which are
accumulated in the extracellular uid of the acupuncture point, may function in the
acupuncture eŒects, and moreover that liquid crystal detection can serve as a simple method
to start