Acupuncture muscle channel in the subcutaneous layer of rat skin.
Using a mixed-dye injection technique, we found a novel kind of muscle fiber with a lumen, established its precise location in the subcutaneous muscle layer along the acupuncture muscle of the bladder line, and determined its detailed ultrastructure. The channels with flowing liquid were a novel kind of muscle fibers with lumens and they were located in the subcutaneous muscle layer of rat. Their detection was realized by using chrome-hematoxylin and a mixture of fluorescent nanoparticles and commercial Pelikan ink. These acupuncture muscle channels were hidden among the neighboring skin skeletal muscle fibers and were barely distinguishable from them with light microscopes. Only with a transmission electron microscope were their characteristic features shown to be different from normal skin skeletal muscle. These features included undifferentiated muscle fibers that resembled immature myofibrils without Z-lines and reassembled telophase nuclei.
Lee
Byung-Cheon
BC
Biomedical Physics Laboratory, Frontier Physics Research Division, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Ogay
Vyacheslav
V
Kim
Ki Woo
KW
Lee
Yuwon
Y
Lee
Jin-Kyu
JK
Soh
Kwang-Sup
KS
D026881:Acupuncture; D000818:Animals; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D016740:Meridians; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D040521:Subcutaneous Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure
D004396:Coloring Agents; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes