Acupunct Electrother Res. 1985 ; 10(4): 279-96.

Biorheology, Western medicine and acupuncture.

Copley AL.

An attempt is made by the author to show that biorheology and certain of its branches are expected to contribute towards a better understanding of mechanisms concerning beneficial effects known in the practice of acupuncture. Rheology, a branch of physics, founded as an organized science in 1929, is defined as the science of deformation and flow of matter. Biorheology comprises the science of deformation and flow of biological systems or of materials of biological significance. Recently, the author considered biorheology to be the missing link between the life sciences. Hemorheology, at present its most active branch, is concerned with the rheological (deformation and flow) properties of blood, including its cellular and plasmatic components, and of the structures of the vessel wall with which blood and its components come into direct contact. Hemorheology is the study of how the components of blood and of the vessel wall can function and interact rheologically. In 1981, the author defined the entity of the blood and its more or less leaky envelopes, the variety of blood vessels in a variety of tissues and organs, as an organ, named the 'vessel-blood organ'. It is a special organ penetrating all other organs and can be likened to some extent to the nervous system. Hemorheology is thus the rheology of the vessel-blood organ, its constituents and of the processes involved in both its two portions as well as in their interactions. There is an extension of hemorheology, termed recently by the author 'parahemorheology', which deals with processes and flow occurring within the interstitial spaces, across the parenchymal cell membranes, the lymph and the channels or lymphatics, in which it is contained, and its walls. Thus parahemorheology is intertwined with hemorheology. Applications of biorheology to the theory and practice of different fields in medicine is called medical or clinical biorheology. It is expected that clinical hemorheology and clinical parahemorheology are of particular significance in research on acupuncture. Such considerations have thus far not been taken into account in studies of mechanisms pertaining to acupuncture. It is obvious that biorheological processes occur in patients as a result of acupuncture, for example the release of muscular spasm. The crucial barrier in transcapillary transport is considered by the author to be the endoendothelial fibrin(ogenin) lining. Fibrinogenin is the term for the aggregation and gelation of fibrinogen without thrombin participation. The field of electro-biorheology is closely associated with parahemorheology.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)