A Multichannel System for Continuous Measurements of Skin Resistance and Capacitance at Acupuncture Points

Block diagram of the eight channel Octopus custom board.

The Octopus system. The National Instruments SCC-68 I/O screw terminal board with cable interface to the PCI card inside a desktop computer is shown on the left. The custom designed Octopus board on the right (depicted in Figure 1), with a white SCC box cover. The eight leads connecting to skin electrodes and the ground connector on the right are shown on top of the Octopus board.

Biopac electrodes on acupuncture points (APs) and nearby non-AP sites, including (A) right Lung (LU 9), Pericardium (PC 6), and a non-AP site located midway; (B) right Spleen (SP 1), Liver (LR 1) and a non-AP site located midway; and (C) SP 6 and a non-AP site located on the border of the tibia.

Differences in resistance between acupuncture points (AP) and non-acupuncture sites (non-APs) appear to be associated with the distance between the two sites.

Mean resistance differences between the average of the AP pair (LU 9 + PC 6) and the nearby non-AP comparison site in 33 individual participants.

Mean resistance differences between the average of the AP pair (LR 1 + SP 1) and the nearby comparison site in 33 participants.

Mean resistance differences between SP 6 and its nearby non-AP comparison site in 33 participants.