The existence of so-called acupuncture points on the surface of the human body has been known in China for over 5,000 years, and the first written documents on acupuncture date back to the 1st century BC. Today, acupuncture is widely known, which involves inserting needles into acupuncture points to affect various pathological conditions (most often to relieve pain) and is a form of alternative medicine. Studies on many vertebrates (horses, dogs, cats) have confirmed the presence of acupuncture points on their surfaces.

Over the past period, the topography and anatomy of the acupuncture points(APs) have been studied, the connections of the APs with the meridional system and various internal organs have been identified, and the morphological features of the acupuncture points that distinguish them from the surrounding skin have been studied. The only thing that remains unknown is the significance of the acupuncture points in the body's life support—their function in humans and other vertebrates (possibly all living beings on our planet—these issues have not been studied).

 Evolution lasted for many millions of years and ended with the creation of Homo sapiens. And throughout this period, along with the formation of all known systems of the human body, the formation of the system of acupuncture points on the surface of the human body also took place. Research in recent years has shown that APs differ from the surrounding skin in their electrical characteristics, which contributed to various electroacupuncture diagnostics measuring electrical conductivity at these points. It has been established that AP's electrical conductivity depends on the function of the human body and changes in various pathological conditions. Of the known methods of electropuncture diagnostics (ED), the most interesting is the method of electroacupuncture diagnostics developed by Dr. Voll (EAV) (1956). The difference from existing ED methods in the diagnosis of EAV is that the author connected an extremely low-intensity electromagnetic field in the form of a honeycomb on the external panel of the device, which made it possible to develop a method of medicine testing further.

Medicament testing 

Medicament testing involves studying the reaction of altered skin conductivity at an acupuncture point to the remote impact of various drugs (homeopathic and allopathic) used in medicament testing. A special feature of medicament testing is the possibility of individual drug selection, as well as selection of single and daily doses of drugs.

In infectious pathology, nosodes (homeopathy) of multiple antigens (viruses, bacteria, fungi) and various allopathic antiviral, antibiotic, and antifungal drugs are used in the testing process. To study the possibilities of medicament testing (MT) for diagnosing infectious pathology, we studied a group of patients with a verified diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C virus infection(CHCV). During MT, the daily dose of sofosbuvir (a drug that suppresses the activity of NS5B RNA polymerase, a protein responsible for the reproduction of the hepatitis C virus) was determined. A correlation was made between the viral load in blood and the results we obtained.

To conduct medicament testing (MT), 61 patients with CHC infection from the Institute of Virology outpatient department were included and chosen by random sampling. To conduct MT, we selected two acupuncture points: 1. "Xing-jian" (LR2, Chinese), which in Voll's interpretation is associated with "liver cells and lobules". In Voll's interpretation, the second acupuncture point, Kr8b, is called the "thoracic lymphatic duct" point and is located on the Pericardium meridian according to traditional Chinese medicine. In each tested AP, the readings of the EAV device were recorded below the standard indicators of the electroacupuncture apparatus, which were shown in analog form on the light strip display. They were interpreted as a hypoergic reaction, corresponding to the energy deficiency concept. Placing sofosbuvir in the honeycomb of the EAV device in 100% of cases resulted in the return of the device readings to the normal range, which indicated the restoration of energy balance in the studied APs. Having confirmed the positive response of the measured AP to sofosbuvir, we then selected the daily dose of the drug using the method we have developed.

The  results we obtained

As our results demonstrated, there was a direct correlation between the tested daily doses of sofosbuvir and the level of viral load in patients with low and moderate severity of viral load; the higher the tested dose of sofosbuvir, the higher the viral load in this group of patients. Deciphering the viral load for hepatitis C (copies/mL) was carried out according to generally accepted recommendations:

Degree severity          Viral load in copies/mL

Low                                          600 to 30,000 copies/ml

Moderate                           30,000 to 800,000 copies/ml

High                                         over 800,000 copies/ml

Determination of the closeness of the relationship using the correlation coefficient demonstrated that there is a strong correlation between the tested daily doses of sofosbuvir and low and medium viral load levels in patients with CHCV infection. In this group of patients, the correlation coefficient was r = 0.83 according to the Chaddock scale, which corresponds to a high (strong) positive correlation. In contrast, in the group of patients with high viral load, the correlation became weak at r = 0.27, indicating no relationship between the viral load dose and the tested dose of sofosbuvir. To understand the strength of the relationship between viral load and the tested doses of sofosbuvir (400 mg), we calculated the determination coefficient R (r2), which was R = 0.68, meaning that in 68% of patients, the variability of the tested doses of sofosbuvir depended on the level of viral load.

Conclusions

This study showed that acupuncture points can serve as a diagnostic tool in the process of medicament testing and allow the determination of daily doses of sofosbuvir in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. 

The results we obtained allowed us to express our point of view. It is assumed that the electric field inherent in the acupuncture point interacts with the electromagnetic field of the drug, which is activated under the influence of a weak electromagnetic field of the EAV's honeycomb, when the drug is placed in its cells. The resulting interaction leads to the summation of both fields, which affects the readings of the EAV device. An essential condition is the proper selection of the drug being tested. In our case, it was sofosbuvir, a drug used in the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection. Therefore, the acupuncture point exhibits, in our opinion, its informational properties, since the result obtained is a product of the interaction of electromagnetic fields of two different objects.
 Then, in general, it can be assumed that acupuncture points on the human body (and other vertebrates) act as receivers of external electromagnetic fields surrounding a person, including the Earth's electromagnetic field. This statement is the opinion of the article's authors and requires careful evidence.