Yang Feng, Ren Shizhen (Department of Anatomy, Zhongguo Medical College)
In bringing to light the material basis of the channels, a variety of methods have been employed by us, but so far we have not found any specific structure in and around the points. Nor have we ever noted any special tissues other than nerves and vessels along the channels.
The author believes that, viewed from the law which governs the distribution of the points, the channel is closely related to the pattern of the nerve supply. We distinguish two patterns of the peripheral nerve supply, that is, the pattern of the nerve supply dealt with in gross anatomy and that of the segmental innervation seen in embryonic period.
1. The pattern of nerve supply in gross anatomy.
Owing to the differentiation and shift of the limb bud in the embryonic period, the primitive segmental nerve roots, once out of the intervertebral foramina, are rearranged, forming complicated nerve plexus, such as the brachial plexus. The nerve roots are first combined into the upper, middle and lower trunks. These are rearranged, constituting the interior, exterior, and posterior bundles, which are again rearranged to make the ulnar, radial, median, musculocutaneous, medial brachial cutaneous, medial antibrachial cutaneous and other nerves, designated in gross anatomy.
It is hard to define any regular connection between this pattern of nerve supply and the points. Hence we are not going to pursue our investigation along this line.
2. The pattern of the segmental innervation in the embryonic period.
The somite is the primitive local functional unit of the vertebrates and human body. The embryo in its early stages is made up of 40 pairs of somites jointed to one another along its axis with the resultant formation of what resembles a segmental structure. The components of this seemingly segmented structure of the embryo are known as metameres. Each metamere consists of three parts, i.e., the somatic part, the splanchnic part and the spinal segments. The somatic part will develop into the future limbs and trunk (the skin, muscle and bone) and that is why regular and evenly arranged dermatomes can be marked out on the body surface. The splanchnic part is where the future viscera (both hollow and solid organs) will be formed. The spinal segments will send out the somatic nerves and the splanchnic nerves to the somatic part and the splanchnic part respectively, linking the three parts up into a whole. No matter, as a result of the growth and differentiation of the somite, what form the splanchnic tube takes, how its limb buds extend outward, how far the dermatome and myotome of the somatic part shift and migrate, how its nerve roots are rearranged and reorganized, and how morphologically complicated nerve plexuses are formed, functionally the metamere will retain the relationship of the segmental nerve supply, that is, the original area it supplies will remain unchanged (such being the fundamental law). Each metamere is in itself an integral whole connected by the somatic and splanchnic nerves and with nerve segments as its centre, in which the surface and the interior are correlated and the external and the internal unified. The pattern of the distribution of the points and that of the segmental nerve supply are very similar, especially in the ventral and dorsal regions of the trunk. We think that this is by no means accidental.
After a reduction and comparison of the 14 Channels we found that the great majority of the indications of the different points, as recorded in the literature of the traditional Chinese medicine, coincide with the reflex connections of the somatic and splanchnic nerve segments. Those on the distal end of the extremities also conform to this law. Therefore we are in the belief that there is a relative specificity in the points which are the functionally responding points of the pathological and physiological states of the viscera on the body surface and the segmental connection of the somatic and splanchnic nerve is their material basis. The author would like to point out with emphasis that the key to the cognizance of this problem is whether or not we look into it from the angle of embryology.
In bringing to light the material basis of the channels, a variety of methods have been employed by us, but so far we have not found any specific structure in and around the points. Nor have we ever noted any special tissues other than nerves and vessels along the channels.
The author believes that, viewed from the law which governs the distribution of the points, the channel is closely related to the pattern of the nerve supply. We distinguish two patterns of the peripheral nerve supply, that is, the pattern of the nerve supply dealt with in gross anatomy and that of the segmental innervation seen in embryonic period.
1. The pattern of nerve supply in gross anatomy.
Owing to the differentiation and shift of the limb bud in the embryonic period, the primitive segmental nerve roots, once out of the intervertebral foramina, are rearranged, forming complicated nerve plexus, such as the brachial plexus. The nerve roots are first combined into the upper, middle and lower trunks. These are rearranged, constituting the interior, exterior, and posterior bundles, which are again rearranged to make the ulnar, radial, median, musculocutaneous, medial brachial cutaneous, medial antibrachial cutaneous and other nerves, designated in gross anatomy.
It is hard to define any regular connection between this pattern of nerve supply and the points. Hence we are not going to pursue our investigation along this line.
2. The pattern of the segmental innervation in the embryonic period.
The somite is the primitive local functional unit of the vertebrates and human body. The embryo in its early stages is made up of 40 pairs of somites jointed to one another along its axis with the resultant formation of what resembles a segmental structure. The components of this seemingly segmented structure of the embryo are known as metameres. Each metamere consists of three parts, i.e., the somatic part, the splanchnic part and the spinal segments. The somatic part will develop into the future limbs and trunk (the skin, muscle and bone) and that is why regular and evenly arranged dermatomes can be marked out on the body surface. The splanchnic part is where the future viscera (both hollow and solid organs) will be formed. The spinal segments will send out the somatic nerves and the splanchnic nerves to the somatic part and the splanchnic part respectively, linking the three parts up into a whole. No matter, as a result of the growth and differentiation of the somite, what form the splanchnic tube takes, how its limb buds extend outward, how far the dermatome and myotome of the somatic part shift and migrate, how its nerve roots are rearranged and reorganized, and how morphologically complicated nerve plexuses are formed, functionally the metamere will retain the relationship of the segmental nerve supply, that is, the original area it supplies will remain unchanged (such being the fundamental law). Each metamere is in itself an integral whole connected by the somatic and splanchnic nerves and with nerve segments as its centre, in which the surface and the interior are correlated and the external and the internal unified. The pattern of the distribution of the points and that of the segmental nerve supply are very similar, especially in the ventral and dorsal regions of the trunk. We think that this is by no means accidental.
After a reduction and comparison of the 14 Channels we found that the great majority of the indications of the different points, as recorded in the literature of the traditional Chinese medicine, coincide with the reflex connections of the somatic and splanchnic nerve segments. Those on the distal end of the extremities also conform to this law. Therefore we are in the belief that there is a relative specificity in the points which are the functionally responding points of the pathological and physiological states of the viscera on the body surface and the segmental connection of the somatic and splanchnic nerve is their material basis. The author would like to point out with emphasis that the key to the cognizance of this problem is whether or not we look into it from the angle of embryology.
No comments:
Post a Comment