WANG Jia, GAO Qi, XU Dongsheng, ZHANG Zhiyun, CUI Jingjing, BAI Wanzhu

(Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, 

China)

Abstract: Objective: Laser scanning confocal microscope（LSCM）is a modern high-precision microscope. It has been widely used in various fields of research and has been applied in acupuncture for over 20 years. With the features of high sensitivity and resolution, three dimensional reconstruction, and dynamic signal analysis, LSCM can be applied for studying the cellular structure from the static and dynamic views, which make it popularly in the field of acupuncture research and to be one of the important tools for revealing the structure of acupuncture points and the effect of acupuncture from the perspective of histology. In the present paper , we  summarized  the previous works of the application of LSCM in the field of acupuncture research, and revealed its important role playing in this field. Meanwhile, we also look ahead its prospect in acupuncture field. 

Key  words:  acupuncture,  laser  scanning  confocal  microscope,  morphology,  cell,  three  dimensional 

reconstruction, visualization