Meridians visualization by using magnetic nanoparticles

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Meridians visualization by using magnetic nanoparticles

Postby miliox » Fri Feb 13, 2009 4:43 am

Here I post a interesing reserarch article, I think is the first evidence by microscopy of the presence of energetic meridians in an organism.
It contains a clear picture...
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Postby Dvivid » Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:12 pm

"Acupuncture is increasingly accepted worldwide as an effective alternative medicine (1,2), yet the scientific basis of its mechanism has not been unveiled. Even though evidence of its therapeutic functions, especially in pain, has been reported (3), the structural support for its functions is still lacking. Once the anatomical structure corresponding to the acupuncture meridian is established the science of acupuncture should have a solid foundation. Many observations have supported the physical reality of human acupuncture points and meridians such as low electrical impedance at the acupoints (4) thermal and sense propagation (5), and radioisotope tracing (6). Until now, however, no anatomical or histological structures corresponding to the acupoint have been found (7–9). The only claim ever made in this regard was by Bong Han Kim (10) in the early 1960s who discovered anatomically distinctive tissue at the acupoints, and threadlike ducts at the meridians. He traced the ducts and found that they formed a network throughout the body. He reported that the ducts float inside blood and lymph vessels, and on the surfaces of internal organs (10). One of the serious objections raised by medical or veterinarian experts to the existence of the Bonghan ducts was the possibility of confusion with lymphatic vessels (11,12). In the case of the threadlike ducts on the surfaces of internal organs, Feulgen reaction study provided the method to allow the visualization of features that distinguishes the Bonghan duct from a lymphatic vessel (13).

A striking confirmation of Bong Han Kim's claim was the demonstration of a floating threadlike structure inside lymphatic vessels in vivo and in situ (14), which was made possible by the discovery of the specific dye, Janus Green B, that preferentially stained the threadlike structure rather than the wall of the lymphatic vessel. In this article, we present another method that uses the technique of multifunctional nanoparticles to reveal the barely detectable transparent threadlike structures inside lymphatic vessels. This corroborating evidence provides strong support for the existence of a new anatomical structure that is not known in Western medicine, and is deeply connected to the physical basis of acupuncture meridians.

Magnetic nanoparticles have been increasingly used in various fields, especially in biomedical research, as magnetic carriers for bioseparation and for enzyme and protein immobilization and as a contrast-enhancing medium (15). When coupled to affinity ligands, nanoparticles can function as sensitive biological nanosensors. For example, gold nanoparticles (16,17) have been conjugated with synthetic oligonucleotides, proteins and other ligands to create colorimetric and fluorescent nanosensors. Recently, magnetic nanoparticles have been used in magnetic resonance (NMR/MRI) techniques to detect molecular interactions. Imaging applications of nanobiotechnology are mostly focused on the cellular or molecular structures. In this article, we report a rare and novel use of magnetic nanoparticles to reveal and visualize threadlike tissues that are of much larger scale than the cellular structures. We were able to detect the threadlike structures of 20 µm in thickness, which were not detectable with a light microscope, inside the lymphatic vessels of rats.

Incorporation of a fluorescent dye into the magnetic ferrite nanoparticles enabled the detection and visualization, in situ, of the threadlike structures under an external magnetic field. We injected the nanoparticles into two lumbar lymph nodes and placed a magnet for 20 min on the lymphatic vessels connected to the nodes. Owing to the external magnetic field, the injected nanoparticles were attracted to and stayed inside the lymphatic vessel. Without such a field, the particles would have flowed away with the lymphocytes rather than having been taken up by the threadlike structures.

The significance of the present work is the novel application of multifunctional nanoparticles to detect and visualize in vivo and in situ new threadlike structures inside collecting lymphatics. These threadlike structures have hitherto been unknown in lymphology and, thus, are expected to play a profound role in the physiology of lymphatic systems (19)...

Recently, ultrasonic imaging of acupoints has revealed structures in agreement with these results. In this series of development the current work using nanoparticles is significant in the sense that it provides a direct visual demonstration of the threadlike structure. In addition, this technology has promising potential for tracing the new circulatory system when relevant techniques become more developed because the movement of nanoparticles can be easily controlled by a magnetic field. Once the new circulatory system has been traced, the information can be applied for drug delivery to internal organs through acupuncture meridians with traceable and controllable means.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Meridians+visualization+by+using+magnetic+nanoparticles&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
"Avoid Prejudice, Be Objective in Your Judgement, Be Scientific, Be Logical and Make Sense, Do Not Ignore Prior Experience." - Dr. Yang

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Postby miliox » Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:21 pm

hehe, thanks, I realized just now that I forgot upload the article.....
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