Many researchers thought the acupuncture therapy was effective, but doubted whether acupuncture points did exist.
Now, a team, led by the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), has discovered that the acupuncture points do exist but these differ from other parts of the body.
"X-ray beams emitted by the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) are 100 million times brighter, and 10,000 times more intense than the beam produced by a standard X-ray machine," the Xinhua news agency quoted Xiao Tiqiao, the head of the construction of SSRF's beamlines, as saying.
In fact, the SSRF, the biggest scientific platform for science research and technology development in China, had last month concluded a nine-month trial operation.
During the trial operation, the light sources helped in the treatment of fatal cancers, a task led by the scholars with the Med-X Institute of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
"The beamlines are just like super microscopes. They can contribute to the treatment of early stage cancers by detecting the tumor cells that might be overlooked by the X- ray at hospital," Xiao said.
Added Yang Guoyuan of the Med-X Institute: "The SSRF had created a clear and detailed image of the tiny cephalic arteries of a living mouse, which could enable the observation of dynamic pathological changes in the human brain."
The SSRF could also shorten the period of developing a new drug by three to four years, said Shen Xu, a researcher with Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica under the Chinese Academy of Science.
The light sources could expose the three-dimensional structure of viruses, and thus help us design a drug to cure them, Shen said.