Abstract
Recently, threadlike structures on the surfaces of internal organs were rediscovered which are called Bonghan ducts and corpuscles as named by Bonghan Kim, their discoverer about 40 years ago. Many morphological characteristics of the ducts and corpuscles have been found but there are no studies about their function. In this paper, the chemical analysis of Bonghan liquid which flows inside the Bonghan ducts and corpuscles was done to start their functional study. We concentrated on examining the existence of adrenaline since Bonghan Kim asserted that Bonghan ducts and corpuscles were deeply related to the function of hormones such as adrenaline. A liquid-phase microextraction method in capillary electrophoresis was used to overcome several difficulties : minute sample volume, highly complex components, and very low concentration. Fluorescein isothiocyanate derivative of adrenaline in the Bonghan liquid were detected about 10.8 minute with laser-induced fluorescence. Our result suggested that the Bonghan system is related to the secretion and the flow of hormones.
