Abstract
Background: The intelligent tissue hypothesis on how acupuncture works, states that real-time organ states are reflected in the tissue at an organ's related acupuncture points (acupoints). Any such changes in the tissue would produce corresponding changes in the impedance at those locations. Methods: To test this hypothesis in relation to the lungs, the impedance at key lung-related acupoints was monitored in real time while the patient breathed normally, then breathed deeply, then quickly, then held his breath. Results: When breathing deeply this produced a notable decrease in the impedance at 1 acupoint, while breathing quickly produced a decrease at another acupoint, suggesting that these different functions taxed different aspects of the lungs, which was then reflected at different acupoints. The impedance at all the acupoints also contained low-amplitude waves that reflected the base rate of the respiration pacesetter, and the amplitude of these waves also varied to reflect different real-time states in the lungs. Conclusion: These real-time impedance patterns suggested that corresponding physical patterns were present in the tissue at these acupoints, and these physical patterns mirrored the real-time variations in function strength of the related organ (the lungs). These results were consistent with the hypothesis.
