Study Of Human Meridian Phenomena By Medical Photonic Techniques

The meridian theory is an important component of the theory basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which has made great contribution to the health and development of Chinese and been loved by people over many thousand years. However, up to now, people still argue about human meridian theory. Science respects the objective existence, and the objective existence is not only the reflection of the nature of matter, but also the precondition and basis of innovation. The Climb Plan of China from the 7^th to 9^th five years plan, "Meridian Research" and the great basis research plan of 973 plan in the acupuncture meridian field, not only show that the human meridian phenomenon is objective, but also that it is very important and urgent to start researching acupuncture meridian. For this reason, in order to discover the physical properties of human meridian acupoints by optics method, the main work of this dissertation makes full use of the advantages of optics and photonic technology with scientific attitude to explore and study the phenomena of human meridian. There are some creationary developments embodied in the obtained results.In Chapter One, the background of this topic is introduced, then the study status and developments of acupuncture meridians at home and abroad have been reviewed in detail. The author points out that the study of meridian theory drop far behind the demands of the practice, which has become a bottle-neck for the development of the modernization of Chinese medicine study. At present, human meridian phenomenon is the key point or breakpoint for meridian modern study, which needs combination with many subjects using their advantages to tackle the problem. Therefore, the work of the dissertation is full of significance.In Chapter Two, the status of experimental exploration of meridian phenomena are reviewed and discussed. Furthermore, various experimental methods, such as the objective detections of the Generating-sensation propagation, the skin impendence measurement, Nuclear track, positron emission tomography (PET), function magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and infrared thermal imaging are especially analyzed and discussed, which are used to explore and research the meridian phenomena, discovering the physical nature under the phenomena. According to the results, we can conclude that: (1) the meridian phenomena are objective, which is a normal physiological phenomenon;(2) one can see or display the track along human meridian lines described in Chinese Medicine book by use of modern scientific devices; (3) there is a relationship between the meridians and the related organs.In Chapter Three, the principles, measurement methods and their applications of medical photonics are described, respectively. Based on the discussion of the optical properties of biological tissue, the light propagation behavior inside tissue and their related theory, some noninvasive measurement techniques are presented. The author also explains how to do these experiments, which can be applied to the study of human meridian.In Chapter Four, the correlation or relationship between meridian research and modern optics is discussed. A new idea "Meridian Optics" is presented based on the recent status of meridian research. This new idea is necessary in theory, and the methods or techniques of its experiment are reasonable, which can be carried out conveniently. Therefore, it is not only a new method, but also an effective approach for the modern meridian research. And then, the theory scheme and the methodology are put forward. Finally, some important researches on "Meridian Optics" are offered in this chapter.In Chapter Five, the physical basis of infrared thermal radiance, detection technique and the physiology mechanism of body surface temperature are introduced briefly. A new infrared thermal imaging TTM (Thermal Texture Mapping) was used to measure the body temperature of more than two hundreds healthy youth. The preliminary temperature characteristics of body surface of healthy youth are obtained, which can be a criterion for the disease diagnosis or assessment by thermography. Based on these results, the TTM infrared thermal imaging was used to study the infrared radiant characteristic and its time rhythm. Our study show clear evidence of the existence of infrared radiant track along human meridian courses. The time-evolution characteristic of the infrared radiant track is observed for the first time. Our findings support the point of view that infrared radiant track along human meridian courses is a normal vital and physiological phenomenon appearing in human beingIn Chapter Six, an experimental scheme for measuring the optical properties of human meridian is designed based on the principles and techniques of biomedical optics, and then the transport properties of red light propagating between along pericardium meridian and nonmeridian directions are measured and compared. The influence ofmodulated frequency of light is also discussed. Statistical analysis shows that the difference of the light transport properties between along meridian and nonmeridian directions is obvious (P<0.01). Furthermore, the reflectance spectrum of skin tissue in the Hegu acupoint is measured, and the optical property parameters are retrieved from the reflectance spectrum combination with the diffuse theory model. The study gives some results on human meridian research by medical photonics and its technique for the first time, which will promote the study on acupuncture mechanism and the physical and chemic characteristics of meridian acupoint.In Chapter Seven, the creationary points of the dissertation are summed up. Some further research proposals and their expected results are given.In a word, as the America "Times Weekly" reported, complementary therapy using acupuncture and its related study is the top and hot researching field in 21 century, in other words, the traditional Chinese medicine will play an important role in the medical development in the future, and will indicate one of directions of modern medical development. The reason why acupuncture meridian can be popular all over the world is the need of modern society. Therefore, we believe that "Meridian Optics " will exploit a new field for human meridian study by means of medical photonic techniques.