The theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)holds that“internally

meridians connect with the visceral organs

and externally

with the joints

limbs and other superficial tissues of the body”.The resuits of the investigations on the meridian phenomena

including propagated sensation along meridians(PSM) and others

also showed that certain lines or tracks

coincident with the course of classical meridians

really existed over the body surface.In order to probe into the relation between the pericardium meridian

acting as a organic whole

and the cardiac function

100 cases of patients suffering from coronary heart disease

with or without PSM

were observed on the one and the same subject before and after acupuncture for comparison.Four acupoints

namely Neiguan (PC6)

Ximen(PC4)

Quze(PC3)

Tianquan(PC2)and two other non-acupoint spots on the Pericerdium Meridian of the same person were acupunctured in dif- ferent days respectively.At the same time

the spots locating on the both sides of above 4 acupoints

with a distance of 1.5～2.0cm from them former

and Guangming(GB37)of Gall-Bladder Meridian were taken as controls.Electroca- rdiogram

cardiophonogram and rheocardiogram were recorded simultaneously. Taking PEP

LVET

P/L

HI

SV

CO

ST segment and T wave of ECG as indexes for analysis

the effect of acupuncture of acupoints on Pericardium Me- ridian and controls were compared.The results of 737 limes of observation de- monstrated that the 8 indexes of 4 aeupoints and other two non-acupoint spots on the Pericardium Meridian all changed conspicuously after acupuncture.Howe- ver

the changes of above indexes of the controls

including 8 spots beside Peri- cardium Meridian

were slight.The differences of the variation of every index between two groups are all highly significant(P<0.001).The results are all the same for the comparison between the acupoints of Pericardium Meridian and Guangming(GB_(37)).The above results revealed that the effects of acupuneturing various acupoints of Pericardium Meridian on cardiac function were nearly the same

and aeupuncturing the non-acupoints on Pericardium Meridian also had the similar effects.In contrast

no marked effects on cardiac function could be fo- und as the control spots beside Pericardium Meridian and the acpoint of Gall- bladder Meridian were acupunctured. It follows that Pericardium Meridian

as a organic whole

is closely related to the functional activity of the heart.From the functional aspect the above results also reveal that a particular track

coincident with Pericardium Meridian in the main

actually exists along the medical side of the arm.