Progress of researches on electrical characteristics of meridians and acupoints in recent 10 years / 针刺研究

ABSTRACT

The electrical characteristics of meridians and acupoints have been being one of the hot topics discussed by scholars, because of many influencing factors and inconsistent research results. In the present article, we collected papers published in Chinese or English in recent 10 years from PubMed, CNKI, and VIP databases by using key words of"acupuncture""meridian""resistance""capacitance""electrodermal"and"impedance". Then, we make an analysis about its development from three aspects, 1) manifestations of electrical properties of acupoints (low dermal resistance under pathological state, imbalance between left and right sides of the synonym acupoints), 2) clinical application of acupoint electrical characteristics for diagnosis of clinical disorders and evaluation of therapeutic effect, and 3) current situations of development of meridian detection instruments based on electrical characteristics (improving stability of instruments，expansion of the detected regions and measuring time, realization of visualization, and operational automation). In the process of coming studies, we highly recommend that more attention should be paid to the acupoints' "dynamic changes"， and forming a standardized research plan, strengthening domestic and international academic exchanges and cooperation are definitely necessary in order to validate the objectivity and specificity of electrical characteristics of meridians and acupoints, further expanding its clinical application.