Observation of Coiled Blood Plexus in Rat Skin with Diffusive Light Illumination

Ogay, Vyacheslav; Min, Flora; Kim, KwanHyung; Kim, JaiSoon; Bae, Kyung Hee; Han, Sang Chul; Soh, Kwang-Sup

doi:10.1016/S2005-2901(09)60016-9

« Previous Next »Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies
Volume 2, Issue 1 , Pages 56-65, March 2009

Observation of Coiled Blood Plexus in Rat Skin with Diffusive Light Illumination

Vyacheslav Ogay
- Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Frontier Physics Research Division, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Flora Min
- College of Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
KwanHyung Kim
- Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Frontier Physics Research Division, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
JaiSoon Kim
- Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Frontier Physics Research Division, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Kyung Hee Bae
- Department of Physical Education, University of Incheon, Incheon, Korea
- Corresponding authors. KH Bae, Department of Physical Education, University of Incheon, Incheon, Korea. KS Soh, Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Frontier Physics Research Division, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151–747, Korea
Sang Chul Han
- Department of Physical Education, University of Incheon, Incheon, Korea
Kwang-Sup Soh
- Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Frontier Physics Research Division, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
- Corresponding authors. KH Bae, Department of Physical Education, University of Incheon, Incheon, Korea. KS Soh, Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Frontier Physics Research Division, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151–747, Korea

Received 30 September 2008; accepted 12 January 2009.

Abstract

Blood plexuses are characteristic anatomical features of acupuncture points (APs). We developed an optical technique using diffusive light illumination to increase the brightened area of skin for observation of the blood plexuses in skin. We found that the blood plexuses were coiled blood vessels which came out of the perforations in the fascia of muscle. The coiled vessels could be straightened by stretching the skin. We observed a series of blood plexuses at the putative APs along the left and right kidney meridian lines in the abdominal skin of rats. In addition, the locations of the plexuses on the muscle fascia were just above the putative acupuncture muscle channels along the kidney meridians. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis of the skin specimens of the plexuses revealed its neurovascular bundle nature as expected from known anatomical features of the APs.

Key Words: acupuncture , blood plexus , bonghan corpuscle , diffusive light , immunohistochemistry