[Discussion on the model organism in acupuncture and meridians researches]

Using model organism to replace human subjects for experimental objects is an important part in basic research on acupuncture therapy. In the process of experimental research, the first thing is that if the animal model is suitable for revealing the underlying mechanism of acupuncture intervention, if it is relatively close to structures of the human body. In addition, some factors such as being easy to feed, larger in the volume and body-surface, lesser in fur, stable in the germline and reasonable in the cost should be considered. In current acupuncture study, most experiments were carried out in mice and rats, some were conducted in rabbits and cats, fewer conducted in larger animals like mini-pigs and monkeys. Due to being smaller in both body size and superficial area in the mouse and rat, soft and comate skin in the rabbit and cat, difficult breeding for cattle and horse, experimental studies of acupuncture-meridians are in fact not ideal in these animals. Mini-pig has a larger body size and body surface, being similar to the human body in the skin structure and easy to breed, and the monkey is mostly close to the human in the gene and body size, and is thus an ideal model organism for acupuncture research. Because acupoint and meridians have their space specificity, the usage of larger animal as the model organism is necessary.