The electrical characteristics of meridians and acupoints have been being one of the hot topics discussed by scholars

because of many influencing factors and inconsistent research results.In the present article

we collected papers published in Chinese or English in recent 10 years from PubMed

CNKI

and VIP databases by using key words of"acupuncture" "meridian" "resistance" "capacitance" "electrodermal" and "impedance".Then

we make an analysis about its development from three aspects

1)manifestations of electrical properties of acupoints(low dermal resistance under pathological state

imbalance between left and right sides of the synonym acupoints)

2)clinical application of acupoint electrical characteristics for diagnosis of clinical disorders and evaluation of therapeutic effect

and 3)current situations of development of meridian detection instruments based on electrical characteristics(improving stability of instruments

expansion of the detected regions and measuring time

realization of visualization

and operational automation).In the process of coming studies

we highly recommend that more attention should be paid to the acupoints' "dynamic changes"

and forming a standardized research plan

strengthening domestic and international academic exchanges and cooperation are definitely necessary in order to validate the objectivity and specificity of electrical characteristics of meridians and acupoints

further expanding its clinical application.