Appearance of liquid crystals in acupuncture points

Liquid crystals of biomolecules occur ubiquitously in biological systems, a nd to study the physiological mechanism of acupuncture, methods involving t he detection of liquid crystals have been introduced. It is revealed that l iquid crystals appear in the acupuncture point Zusanli 15 min after the app ropriate stimulus in the acupuncture point Jiexi, which is located on the s ame meridian with Zusanli according to the Meridian Theory of Chinese Medic ine, whereas liquid crystals are rarely observed in the points beside the Z usanli in the same condition. Subsequent studies on the composition of the liquid crystals detected, using energy dispersive X-ray analysis and histoc hemical analysis, suggest that the liquid crystals consist of proteins and perhaps phospholipids. The results show that these biomolecules, which are accumulated in the extracellular fluid of the acupuncture point, may functi on in the acupuncture effects, and moreover that liquid crystal detection c an serve as a simple method to start studies of such complicated physiologi cal phenomena.