Experiment 1
The experiment consisted of 4, one by one stimulations of the stomach meridian from opposite directions, by UV and mm-EMF expositions: firstly, onto more distant AP’s -St17 and St45, and then, similarly, onto the 2 adjacent AP’s to the scan-area as marked with circles in
Fig. 3a.
Experiment plan: “0” was the preliminary stage of 10 frames (to evaluate the process of adaptation to the measurement procedure), followed by a 10-minute resting state (with the scanner position unchanged).
The main experiment consisted of 9 stages “1st -9th” with a total duration of 8 minutes (8 s × 60 frames):
1st - pre-stimulation resting state, series of 15 frames (2 minutes);
2d- UV1-exposure to St17, 5 frames (40 s);
3d- post-stimulation resting state, 5 frames;
4th- mm-EMF1-exposure to St45, 5 frames;
5th- post-stimulation resting state, 10 frames;
6th- UV2-exposure to the near upper AZ (an extrameridian AP between St31 and St32), 5 frames;
7th- post-stimulation resting state, 5 frames;
8th- mm-EMF2-exposure to St33), 5 frames;
9th- post-stimulation resting state, 5 frames.
A photo of the surveyed area is shown in
Fig. 3a, where, according to the AP atlas, the St32 and the nearest extra-meridian AP’s are also approximately marked. The initial maps of impedance magnitude/modulus z
k and phase angle ϕ
k are depicted at
Figs. 3b and 3c. Both maps are presented in normalized values,
p < 0.01. The red/blue colors indicate areas of above/below average.
Since the “impedance magnitude” is customary to use in most electropuncture measurements, it is the z
k-map which has been chosen as a reference in the analysis of the ϕ
k-landscape, more so because, as far as we know, such a comparison between mainly capacitive and resistive SEL features was not performed earlier. The above average z
k-area (“1”) is marked with a contour on the ϕ
k-map. Within the latter, 2 AZ’s, apparently matching with St32 and Pn96, are marked as 1
a and 1
b. A quantitative comparison showed that these AZ’s differ from the background by approximately 10 and 3 times for ϕ
k and z
k, respectively. For both zones, the palettes were similarly chosen to highlight the initial inter-parameter topological differences as a prerequisite for the following test-induced processes. Noteworthy was a noticeable difference between ϕ
k- and z
k-maps in the zones “2” and particularly in its subsection Zone 2
a (which presumably coincides with Pn94,
Fig, 3a), whose reliefs even have the opposite sign. A comparison of
Fig. 3b and 3c revealed other noticeable differences: not only in dimensions of Zone “1”, but also in 1–2 mm mismatch of the foci in Zone 1
a and 1
b.
Some functional peculiarities of the ϕ
k-landscape appeared already at Stage “0”.
Figs. 3d and 3e showed the correlation fields calculated for each pixel time curve relative to the frame-averaged curve during “0”-stage and 1
st-stage, respectively. The Zone “1” manifested itself in the very 1
st frames by its antiphase response as a coherent dynamic structure of considerable size (d), which shrank to 2 small structures (e) that exactly matched the topography of St32 and Pn96 on the AP atlas. At the same time, however, one can note the existence of a 2.5 mm gap between this “functional” location and the stationary one, i.e., 1
b. Similar, but less visual, the process of decreasing distant antiphase microstructures can be traced throughout the entire scanning zone in the hypothetical AZ Pc158 (2
a). The time curves of the 6 adjacent points of Zone 1a are shown in
Figs. 4a and 4b. From the very beginning, one of the central points (p. 8×18) stands out with a more pronounced reaction and paradoxically opposite dynamics (the St32 candidate?). The latter is more pronounced in the ϕ
k-parameters.
Fig. 4c shows normalized graphs of p. 8×18, p. 7×17 and the average values of all 4 parameters throughout the experiment (other examples of the diverse dynamics in
Supplement Materials, s1–s3). Hence it follows that the adaptation process was completed by the beginning of 1
st stage (the downward trend of z
k and z
M is caused by gradual penetration of electroconductive cream into the epidermis). The course of the frame-averaged curves indicated that for the majority of pixels, the response to stimulation was characterized by “normal” antiphase dynamics of intra- and intercellular parameters: ϕ
k vs z
k, z
k vs z
M, i.e., as a predominance of transmembrane ion exchange. Especially interesting was that during 6th–8th Stages, it was a kind of dynamic which was most pronounced at the p. 8×18 in comparison with the average. It can also be noted that the phase relationships between p. 7×17, p. 8×18 and ϕ
k,av varied to the opposite at different stages, which may indicate participation of other mechanisms. It is also interesting that this phenomenon was not observed in the z
M-dynamics of these points. However, such inter-parametric relationships can hardly be attributed to the distinctive features of only AZ, since they are presumably typical for many, if not all, micro-areas with initially antiphase dynamics,
Fig. 3d.
The discrepancy between the time curves of the low-frequency and high-frequency parameters of the “strange” points (
Fig. 4;
Supplement Materials, s1–s3) was presumably explained by: local release of Ca
2+ from intracellular stores, which increase only intracellular conductance, while intercellular conductance remains unchanged; and vasoconstriction, which mainly affected the phase component of the impedance, and exits to the skin surface along PVS collaterals.
It is pertinent to note that the phenomenon of antiphase dynamics, which was reported in malignant tumor surroundings using SEI [
27,
28], was also observed in an AP locus using just a pair of point electrodes. Wherein, the author hypothesized the existence of “an electrical wave” as an instant communicator between an internal organ and an AP, and this wave affects also impedance of the surrounding tissue [
32]. We believe that such dynamics can rather be explained in terms of 2 concepts: a hydromechanical model of pore fluid flow along the meridians [
33–
35], according to which the incoming stimulus might shift circulation of interstitial fluid to neighboring areas; and intra- and inter-cellular signaling where calcium ions may play a pivotal role [
27,
28,
36,
37].
In this present study, only a few such “coupled points” were detected (see
“Supplement Materials”). Taking into account (i) their location in the most active zones and (ii) the report [
32], it seems likely that such a dynamic is a distinction criterion of AP.
The differences in sensitivity and direction of the response of the intra- and intercellular media can be presented more clearly by pairwise comparison of the curves ϕ
k,av, ϕ
M,av and z
k,av, z
M,av,
Fig. 5. The above assumption on the ϕ
M-informational significance is seemingly confirmed by its pronounced responses to the mm-EMF tests, especially to mm-EMF1 (as the weakest stimulus): a noticeable response was detected in only a few of the dozens of points studied. In these cases, only the subcellular parameter z
M, showed maximum sensitivity. In addition, at a number of points, a 10–20 s delay in response to UV was observed, while any delays in response to mm-EMF “on” were not detected (however, the cooperative ϕ
k-response to mm-EMF1 “off” clearly manifested in the spatial dynamics,
Fig. 6). Taken together, these facts support the hypothesis of different communication channels/waveguides for electromagnetic waves in the microwave and optical ranges.
Spatial variations of the ϕ
k-activity for all 1
st–9
th stages are shown in
Fig. 7 as dispersion fields for each stage. In order to adequately display the dynamics in areas with small ϕ
k -values of Zone 1, it turned out to be expedient to use relative units σ(ϕ
k)/ϕ
k, where: σ is pixel variance over the frame, ϕ
k -its magnitude. The colored side arrows indicate the type and direction of the stimulus applied.
Without going into physiological interpretation, we formally report the possibility of monitoring initial and test-induced AZ’s or neurogenic spots. Hence it becomes possible to compare/assess the spatial redistributions of activity during periods of, e.g., stimulation and relaxation which in this case occurred mainly in the Zones 1 and 2. Variations in activity within the AZ 1a and 1b, as well as those at 1c and 2a are also noteworthy. The most conspicuous event was the test-induced shift in activity to the right side (d). (Without taking into account the depth of the relief, this event would have shown greater contrast, but against its background, the dynamics in “1” would have been indistinguishable).
This dependence of the response on the direction of applied stimulus can seemingly be related to Kim’s [
38] statements that stimulation often travels only to the next AP along, and sometimes to the following one.
Fig. 6 demonstrates the frame by frame spatial ϕ
k-dynamics for 4th–6th stages in normalized difference images, i.e. Δ-maps calculated in relation to the frame #23 of the III stage (
Figs. 4 and
5). a) the ϕ
k-original landscape, b) the Δ-map between 2 last images of the 3
d stage (i.e., frame # 24-frame #23) followed by Δ-maps of: c–v) the 4th stage; h–p) the 5
th stage; r–v) the 6
th stage; w) 1st frame of the 7
th stage, thus showing the start of response to the UV2 off. The loci of AZ’s 1
a and 1
b are marked with “+” and “×”. To the left and to the right of the image sequence, line profiles crossing the AZ 1
a are shown. They provide an additional idea of both: dynamics of the AZ and (ii) offset of a profile relative to the zero level. The sign +/− of this deviation determines red/blue palette, thereby indicating the boundaries of the clusters*. As seen from the profiles, the test-induced magnitudes can be, e.g., 6 times higher (compare b with o and w) and more. Since the fluctuation error was less than half of 1 scale division of the profiles, it was not taken into account when specifying the color scale.
As can be seen from
Fig. 6a, there were no significant changes during the last 2 frames of the previous 3
d stage, i.e., the landscape is a relatively flat surface with just small local physiological variations against the background of minor 50Hz-interference. The mm-EMF1 on triggered immediate deformation of the entire landscape in the form of: 2 local “ridges” around, a large one in Zone “2”, and a “hollows” between them. At the same time, the “hollows” seems to be oscillatory as if around the 1
a and 1
b islets. Meanwhile, the ridge “2” faded out quickly after the 3
rd frame.
The mm-EMF1 off, with 1 frame delay (h), stopped these processes and launched a completely different scenario. Starting from Zone “1”, in place of the “hollows” a new structure gradually emerged and grew, propagating in the direction of 2
a, i.e., along the meridian. The speed of the front propagation was approximately 0.3–0.5 mm/s, which was close to Kim’s [
38] measurements (0.3 mm/s).
The response to UV2 “on” was not instantaneous as that of mm-EMF1. It became noticeable only after 1–2 frames (r, s) delay, during which the aforementioned propagation was reversed, and in the next 3 frames it disappeared (reduction to the size of 1a and 1b. This revers, on the other hand, can be characterized as the reappearance of the “hollows” (compare the neighboring maps e and s) and its progress from 2 to 1, i.e., again along the meridian, but in the opposite direction.
The spatial coherence of these processes is represented as a correlation field in
Fig. 8, which was calculated relative to the dynamics of р. 15×16 in the 3
rd–4
th stages and which clearly revealed the antiphase synchronous dynamics of the right vs left sides with a range of r = ±1.0 (
p < 0.1).
The noticeable differences in the delay time of the reaction to UV and mm-EMF, which were also manifested in the graphs (
Figs. 4,
5,
s1–s3), show evidence in favor of the hypotheses of different waveguide paths of signal propagation. This, in principle, does not cause surprise due to the large difference in wavelengths of optical and microwave radiation. Collagen, interstitial fluids, vessels including the primary vascular system can act as such waveguides [
41–
46].