A semantic ontology of acupoints in Traditional Chinese Medicine aligning with the Basic Formal Ontology

It has been proved that acupoints play important roles in clinical practice. However, due to the less evidence of its anatomical structure, there are few works to explain and understand acupoints from a scientific point of view. In addition, the philosophical connotation in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theories and the diversification of various expressions make acupoints full of disputes. This paper aims to establish a refined Acupoint Ontology (AO) based on its attribute description. To improve interoperability with other ontologies, the proposed AO is designed aligning with Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), the recognized upper ontology in the biomedical area. The AO gives formal definitions of core concepts by mapping with terms in BFO. Moreover, the work initially classifies acupoints’ attributes into static and dynamic ones according to TCM theories and biophysics, which gives insights into acupoints in a scientific way. The work is a new and solid step towards a more essential understanding of TCM acupoints and lays a solid foundation for its further standardization and internationalization.