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The meridian-collateral theory introduced in the classic book Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine,) has been being guiding the clinical diagnosis and treatment of diseases and health preservation by using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. However, despite of being the core theory of TCM, the meridian-colla-terals and their structural basis have not been scientifically clarified, which has become the "bottleneck" of the inheritance and innovation of TCM. It was reported in 2020 that the micro-channels formed by collagen fiber bundles in the skin and their contained components and the newly found interstitial cell, Telocyte, may be considered to be the ultra-micromorphological basis including their connection with the internal organs. In the present paper, we employed the Telocyte network and its relationships with other structures and cells to interpret, at the cellular level, various meridian hypotheses including 1) neurotheory, 2) humoral circulation theory, 3) biological field hypothesis, 4) fascia theory, 5) immune theory, 6) mast cell theory, 7) meridian-qi, and 8) elusive phenomenon of meridian. The absence of meridian-collaterals in morphology may be related to the difficulty of laboratory sample preparations of Telocyte processes in the continuity and completeness. We also proposed that the future research strategies should be aimed at revealing the morphological structure (including in vitro studies of the isolated and cultured Telocytes), establishment of relevant disease model, and clarification of the interrelation between the Telocyte network and the systems of nerve, blood circulation, immune, endocrine, and connective tissue.《黄帝内经》提出的经络学说，一直是中医理论体系的基石，指导临床诊疗、针灸和养生实践。但关于经络实质及其结构基础众说纷纭，未能科学阐明，已成为中医药学传承与创新的瓶颈问题。2020年，《Microscopy and Microanalysis》杂志先后报道了经络实质的最新研究结果。两篇文章提出，皮肤胶原纤维束形成的组织微通道及其内含成分，为经络气血运行通道的超微形态；具有联络作用的新发间质细胞——Telocyte，具备经络实质细胞的各种特质；Telocyte网络及其与其他结构的密切关系，可在细胞水平上诠释不同的经络现象。这些新观点能够从细胞学角度兼容现有的经络假说，有助于传统医学与现代医学的融通。本文将对上述研究成果作一系统综述，并为进一步的探索提出工作策略。. |
