Local atomic structure in acupuncture points studied by

Local atomic structure in acupuncture points studied by Fe K-edge EXAFS D. M. Zhang X. Y. Zhang Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China Abstract: In this work, Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) of Fe K-edge was used to investigate the Fe local atomic structures of acupuncture points (acupoints) and non-acupoints of human beings. The EXAFS spectra of acupoints samples of Guanyuan, Neiguan and Sanyinjiao were collected at BL 13 B of Photo Factory (PF) of High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan. Not only did we find that the Fe-O mean coordination numbers were obviously different between acupoints and non-acupoints, but also we found that the Fe-O and Fe-N bonds length increased in those samples from acupoints to non-acupoints. With the increase of Fe-N bond length of non-acupionts, the ability of transporting oxygen decreases. As a result of the change of Fe. O coordination number and the Fe-O bond length from acupoints to non-acupoints, there must be a close relationship between the NF e - O c o m b i n a t i v e s t r u c t u r e a n d t h e d i f f e r e n c e o f o b v i o u s s t r u c t u r e a n d f u n c t i o n i n a n d o u t o f a c u p o i n t s. Fitting curves Motivation n. The underlying anatomy and physiology of Traditional Chinese meridian theory and acupuncture technique have not been characterized. n. Fe is one of the most abunda 1 nt metals and plays a very important role in humans. n. EXAFS is a very powerful tool for probing local atomic structures because of its element selectivity and independence of long-range order of materials. EXAFS model haemoglobin Fe. Cl 2 Samples Bonds N GY_MU 4_in Fe－N 5 2. 036± 0. 006 0. 063± 0. 008 -9. 25± 0. 91 Fe－O 0. 94± 0. 18 1. 881± 0. 025 0. 012± 0. 036 0. 75± 1. 41 Fe－N 5 2. 027± 0. 008 0. 095± 0. 007 -13. 22± 0. 87 Fe－O 1. 414± 0. 182 1. 937± 0. 011 0. 051± 0. 016 -5. 175± 1. 672 Fe－N 5 2. 015± 0. 004 0. 084± 0. 007 -11. 45± 2. 14 Fe－O 0. 737± 0. 213 1. 997± 0. 028 0. 123± 0. 023 9. 403± 2. 747 Fe－N 5 2. 058± 0. 005 0. 084± 0. 005 -7. 725± 0. 749 Fe－O 1. 455± 0. 328 2. 011± 0. 012 0. 090± 0. 012 9. 587± 1. 27 Fe－N 5 2. 005± 0. 004 0. 061± 0. 015 -12. 73± 2. 48 Fe－O 0. 555± 0. 133 1. 797± 0. 018 0. 01± 0. 06 -12. 20± 3. 57 Fe－N 5 2. 092± 0. 016 0. 010± 0. 004 1. 090± 0. 589 Fe－O 2. 464± 0. 246 2. 485± 0. 009 0. 083± 0. 013 -0. 081± 1. 395 GY_MU 4_out NG_MU 4_in NG_MU 4_out SYJ_SK 1_in SYJ_SK 1_out Conlusion ØThe ability of transporting oxygen in acupoints is much stronger than that in non-acupoints[1]. ØThere must be a closely relationship between N-Fe-O combinative structure and the difference of obvious function in and out of acupoints, this is mainly because of the differences of N-Fe-O combinative structure in micro-vessel. [1] Zhonghua Wu, et al. , EXAFS study on the local atomic structures around iron in glycosylated haemoglobin. Phys. Med. Biol. 2001 46 N 71 -N 77.