Do acupuncture points exist? Xinyi Zhang1,2, Xiaohui Yan1,2, Chenglin Liu1,3, Yuan Zhang1, Dongming Zhang1, Junyao Huang1, Guanghong Ding2, Yuying Huang4, Wei He4, Peiping Zhu4, Shiqiang Wei5, Zhiyun Pan5, Ruishan Dang6, Masami Ando7, Hiroshi Sugiyama8, Hiroyuki Oyanagi9, Huansheng Chen10 1Physics Department, Surface Physics Laboratory (State Key Laboratory), and Synchrotron Radiation Research Center of Fudan University, Shanghai 2Shanghai Research center of Acupuncture and Meridian, Shanghai 3Physics Department of Yancheng Teachers’ College, Yancheng 4Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Beijing 5National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Hefei 6Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 7DDS center, Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Yamasaki 2541, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan 8Photon Factory, Institute of Material Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Oho 1-1,Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan 9National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan 10Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai There are specific acupuncture points on the surface of the human body. Although these points can be used to monitor the health of an individual and restore the health through stimulation of these points, the existence of these special points is always oppugned. In this work, following three different synchrotron-based methods were used to study the characteristics of acupuncture points in order to prove their existence. 1. Phase contrast imaging, DEI and DFI; 2. X-ray fluorescence analysis; 3. X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). There are micro-vessels gathering in acupuncure points. DFI imaging at Sanyinjiao acupoint region (A) and surrounding tissues (B) DFI imaging at Tianshu acupoint region (A) and surrounding tissues (B) object refracted x-rays collimator AA diffracted x-rays The sketch of the DFI setup Local structures around trace elements at or out acupuncture points are different. out in Phys. Med. Biol. 54 (2009) N143–N150 Comments from ESRF (to appear in ESRF Newsletter) To discover if their positioning has a biological basis, scientists at Fudan University (China) have examined tissue samples taken from four acupuncture points at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Using X-ray fluorescence, they found that three of the samples showed a significantly higher concentration of calcium, zinc, iron and copper (up to 20 times higher) than the surrounding tissues. Samples taken along the meridians also showed a slightly higher level of metal concentrations, peaking at acupuncture points. None knows what effect the high metal concentrations have during the practice of acupuncture at present, but this study seems to support the idea that acupuncture has some physical aspects rather than just being a placebo effect.