A needle-electrochemical microsensor for in vivo measurement of the partial pressure of oxygen in acupuncture points

A needle-electrochemical microsensor measuring system was established in order to study the pO2 characteristics of the acupuncture points. Before being used in vivo, the needle-electrochemical microsensor was tested in the in vitro experiments and was proved stable and good in voltametric characteristics. The in vivo measurements showed that the pO2 in the acupuncture points of rabbits was remarkably higher than that in the non-acupuncture points (1 cm apart from the acupuncture points). The results indicated that the needle-electrochemical microsensor has a good performance in measuring the pO2 in vivo. The work contributes to the study of the needle-electrochemical microsensor for measuring pO2 in vitro and in vivo, and supplies useful information and evidence for the acupuncture and meridian mechanism.