Identification of Primo-Vascular System in Abdominal Subcutaneous Tissue Layer of Rats

Figure 11

The distribution of scPVS in the abdominal subcutaneous tissue in a rat. ((a) and (b)) Locations of the conception vessel (CV) acupuncture meridian in a rat (L1, L6, and T13; lumbar 1, lumbar 6, and thoracic 13 vertebrae, resp.). (c) Typical example of the scPVS tissue (dotted square marked as “c” in (b)) on the abdominal subcutaneous tissue layer in relation to the CV meridian and the acupoints. Note other abdominal scPVS tissues away from the CV meridian line (white arrows and dotted circles). (d) scPVS corresponding to putative CV 12 and 13 (dotted square marked as “d” in (c)) comprised of a PN (arrow) and a PV (arrowheads). (e) scPVS corresponding to putative CV 9 and 10 (dotted square marked as “e” in (c)) comprised of a PN (arrow) and PVs (arrowheads). Note that there are three direction-branched PVs (white arrows) from a branching point of a PN, and two branches are connected to one vessel (dotted arrows); there is another vessel away from the vessel located at the ventral midline (open arrow). Note the blood vessels around the scPVS tissue (asterisks in (d) and (c)).