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Network of the Primo Vascular System in the Rat Hypodermis

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Book cover The Primo Vascular System

Abstract

Anatomical and histological studies on acupuncture points (acupoints) and meridians have been one of the most important approaches to revealing the mechanism of acupuncture analgesia and therapeutics. However, researchers have not yet reached a conclusion on the exact anatomical structure of the acupuncture meridians. In this chapter, the network of primo-vessels and nodes in rat hypodermis is reported. Fluorescence imaging showed the network of the primo-vascular system on the layer of superficial fascia (stratum fibrosum) that existed around the location of the stomach meridian from the knee to the middle of the tibia about 24 h after the subcutaneous injection of fluorescent nanoparticles at the acupoint ST36. Its fine morphologies were analyzed by using confocal laser scanning microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The primo-vessel had a sinus (3–4 μm in diameter) surrounded by a layer of cells, and had a bundle-like collagen architecture (covered by a cellular layer) in which collagen fibers were regularly aligned along the longitudinal direction of the primo-vessel. Nanoparticles were also found in the cellular or extracellular layer. Since it seems evident that the primo-vascular system mainly exists in the fascia, a new perspective is needed to investigate the whole mechanism of the propagation of acupoint stimulation through the primo-vascular system in relation to fascia physiology.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Systems Biology Infrastructure Establishment Grant provided by the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in 2009; by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) in 2010 (No. 2010-0025289); and by the Korean Pharmacopuncture Foundation Grant funded by the Koran Pharmacopuncture Institute (KPI-2010-003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-747, South Korea

    Baeckkyoung Sung

Authors
  1. Byung-Cheon Lee
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  2. Zhendong Su
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  3. Baeckkyoung Sung
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  4. Ki Woo Kim
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  5. Jin-Myung Cha
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  6. Jin-Kyu Lee
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  7. Byung-Joon Chang
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  8. Kwang-Sup Soh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Baeckkyoung Sung .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Advanced Institute of Convergence Techno, Seoul National University, Seoul, 443-270, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

    Kwang-Sup Soh

  2. , Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, 40292, Kentucky, USA

    Kyung A. Kang

  3. , Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom

    David K Harrison

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Lee, BC. et al. (2012). Network of the Primo Vascular System in the Rat Hypodermis. In: Soh, KS., Kang, K., Harrison, D. (eds) The Primo Vascular System. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0601-3_20

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