Something Is Inhibiting The Disc Repair Process

[Ironjustic]

Stem Cells Found In Degenerating Spinal Discs Main Category:
Bones / Orthopaedics News Article Date: 02 Nov 2007 - 5:00 PDT

Orthopedic researchers at Jefferson Medical College have for
the first time found stem cells in the intervertebral discs of
the human spine, suggesting that such cells might someday be
used to help repair degenerating discs and remedy lower back
and neck pain.

Reporting November 1, 2007 in the journal Spine, a team led by
Makarand Risbud, Ph.D., and Irving Shapiro, Ph.D., at
Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in
Philadelphia, have found stem cells in both degenerated adult
human discs and in discs of animals.

Many people suffer from lower back pain, and treatment
ranges from painkillers such as acetominophen to medical
procedures, such as fusing vertebrae. The combined annual
costs for treatment of back pain and disc disease is
approximately $100 billion a year and a major cause of lost
work in the United States.

According to Dr. Shapiro, as the discs in the spine
degenerate, cells are lost and the ability to produce
water-binding molecules called proteoglycans is decreased. The
water absorbs forces on the spine, essentially serving as
shock absorbers. Losing proteoglycans can result in damage to
the disc, and sometimes, pain.

"It would be wonderful if we could get the cells in the
intervertebral disc to regenerate or increase the amount
of proteoglycans that they synthesize," he says. "That way
we could regenerate the shock- absorbing capabilities of
the spine."

Dr. Risbud, an assistant professor of Orthopedic Surgery, and
Dr. Shapiro, who is professor of Orthopedic Surgery, both
at Jefferson Medical College, and their co-workers asked
if it was possible to regenerate proteoglycans using adult
stem cells. Federal regulations prevent them from using
embryonic stem cells.

Ds. Risbud built the study around the observation that while
the tissue that he could isolate from the disc was no
longer binding water, the tissue still might contain
dormant stem cells. He thought that while these cells were
no longer functioning to repair the damaged disc, under
appropriate conditions, they could be activated.

To explore that possibility, he isolated cells from discarded
disc tissue that still had the capacity to proliferate. Dr.
Risbud notes that under certain conditions, the cells could be
encouraged to form bone. In other conditions, the cells would
form cartilage or even fat. The tests proved that these cells
were indeed dormant disc stem cells. "If we are able to
stimulate the 'silent' cells in the patient, then it may be
possible to repair the ravages of degenerative disc disease
without undergoing invasive surgical procedures that may limit
the motion of the spine," he says.

According to Dr. Risbud, in earlier work, the researchers
found that local conditions in the disc can promote adult stem
cells of the bone marrow to acquire characteristics of disc
cells. Within the disc, the local conditions are unique in
that the oxygen levels are low. These conditions cause the
expression of many specialized molecules, including the
water-binding proteoglycans. Some of the researchers' current
experiments focus on the use of adult stem cells to repair the
degenerate intervertebral disc.

Shapiro notes that other researchers have taken bone marrow
stem cells and have made new bone, cartilage and fat tissue.
"Our next step is to activate these disc stem cells and get
them to repopulate the disc and make proteoglycans and restore
the water-binding,

The scientists theorize that because the stem cells exist in
the degenerate disk, there may be molecules that are blocking
stem cell activity. "Something is inhibiting the disc repair
process," says Dr. Shapiro. Drs. Shapiro and Risbud agree that
"new studies are needed to discover the nature of such
inhibitory molecules" and to find ways to block their
activities, promoting natural healing.

----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original
press release.

Who loves ya. Tom

Jesus Was A Vegetarian! http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com

Man Is A Herbivore! http://tinyurl.com/a3cc3

DEAD PEOPLE WALKING http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk

[Taka]

On Nov 2, 9:41 pm, "ironjust...@aol.com"
<ironjust...@aol.com> wrote:
> Stem Cells Found In Degenerating Spinal Discs Main
> Category: Bones / Orthopaedics News Article Date: 02 Nov
> 2007 - 5:00 PDT
>
> The scientists theorize that because the stem cells exist in
> the degenerate disk, there may be molecules that are
> blocking stem cell activity. "Something is inhibiting the
> disc repair process," says Dr. Shapiro. Drs. Shapiro and
> Risbud agree that "new studies are needed to discover the
> nature of such inhibitory molecules" and to find ways to
> block their activities, promoting natural healing.

These molecules may be in fact the omega-6 fatty acids like AA
which some researchers consider essential. Notice that the
healthy and young cartilage has the Mead acid in it which can
be manufactured by the body even from carbohydrates:

FASEB J. 1991 Mar 1;5(3):344-53.

Unique fatty acid composition of normal cartilage: discovery
of high levels of n-9 eicosatrienoic acid and low levels of
n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Adkisson HD 4th, Risener FS Jr, Zarrinkar PP, Walla MD,
Christie WW, Wuthier RE. Department of Chemistry, University
of South Carolina, Columbia 29208.

We report here the finding that normal, young cartilages, in
distinction from all other tissues examined, have unusually
high levels of n-9 eicosatrienoic (20:3 cis-delta 5,8,11) acid
and low levels of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFA).
This pattern is identical to that found in tissues of animals
subjected to prolonged depletion of nutritionally essential
n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (EFA). This apparent
deficiency is consistently observed in cartilage of all
species so far studied (young chicken, fetal calf, newborn
pig, rabbit, and human), even though levels of n-6 PUFA in
blood and all other tissues is normal. The n-9 20:3 acid is
particularly abundant in phosphatidylethanolamine,
phosphatidylinositol, and the free fatty acid fractions from
the young cartilage. Several factors appear to contribute to
the reduction in n-6 PUFA and the appearance of high levels of
the n-9 20:3 acid in cartilage: 1) limited access to
nutritional sources of EFA due to the impermeability and
avascularity of cartilage, 2) rapid metabolism of n-6 PUFA to
prostanoids by chondrocytes, and 3) a unique fatty acid
metabolism by cartilage. Evidence is presented that each of
these factors contributes. Previously, EFA deficiency has been
shown to greatly suppress the inflammatory response of
leukocytes and rejection of tissues transplanted into
allogeneic recipients. Because eicosanoids, which are derived
from EFA, have been implicated in the inflammatory responses
associated with arthritic disease, reduction of n-6 PUFA and
accumulation of the n-9 20:3 acid in cartilage may be
important for maintaining normal cartilage structure.

Mead acid synthesis (requires VitB6): http://www.lipomics.com-
/fatty_acids/5-8-11-eicosatrienoic-acid

Taka

[Taka]

On Nov 3, 7:27 am, monty1...@lycos.com wrote:
> This sounds like a good study I cited on my site, which
> found butter to help in the bone growth process but corn oil
> to be inhibitive. Many "diseases" that exist now to a much
> greater degree than in the past seem to be due to the
> excessive free radical activity (mostly in vivo lipid
> peroxidation), which is due especially to the use of highly
> refined and unsaturated oils.

It's also interesting that the best herb used for treating
arthritis is a specific 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) inhibitor. This
enzyme makes leukotrienes from the arachidonic acid (AA).
These leukotrienes like LTB4 are very powerful tissue
destructors via proteolysis. Also note that the cysteinyl
leukotrienes are responsible for allergies and asthma. If Mead
acid is used instead of AA as a substrate for 5-LOX, a less
reactive leukotriene LTA3 is made which may have just the
right amount of activity for a brief proteolytic pulse to
clean the debris in a wound before the rebuilding process
driven by prostaglandins starts. With the AA metabolites, the
tissue may be permanently stuck in the original destructive
phase of inflammation ... For people with AA in the cartilage
it may be difficult to replace it with the Mead acid by simple
diet since the cartilage has no blood supply and very low
tissue turnover. However, this may help when manufacturing the
cartilage for tissue engineering in vitro since it's easy to
make the cells in a culture "EFAD" and tissues with no AA in
them are immunologically very suitable for transplants (no
rejection due to AA- driven inflammation).

Taka

About the 5-LOX inhibitor Boswellia serrata:
http://tinyurl.com/2wcfeu

[Ironjustic]

>> On Nov 2, 7:00 pm, Taka <taka0...@gmail.com> wrote: For
>> people with
AA in the cartilage it may be difficult to replace it with
the Mead acid by simple diet since the cartilage has no blood
supply and very low tissue turnover. <<

WILL mead acid displace arachidonic acid (AA) .. ? / "it may
be difficult to replace it with the Mead acid" .. ?

One might think of going with those fatty acids KNOWN to
displace .. arachidonic acid (AA). Vegetarian diet is all
but DEVOID of .. arachidonic acid (AA). Vegetarian diet
.. supplies the fatty-acid SHOWN to displace arachidonic
acid (AA) .

"dihomo-gamma- linolenic acid (DGLA) can displace
arachidonic acid"

Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1998
Mar;58(3):185-91. Links Dietary alpha-linolenic acid increases
TNF-alpha, and decreases IL-6, IL-10 in response to LPS:
effects of sesamin on the delta-5 desaturation of omega6 and
omega3 fatty acids in mice. Chavali SR, Zhong WW, Forse RA.
Department of Surgery, Harvard Institute of Medicine, Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA 02215, USA.

Sesamin (a non-fat portion of sesame seed oil) inhibits
delta-5 desaturase activity resulting in an accumulation of
dihomo-gamma- linolenic acid (DGLA) which can displace
arachidonic acid (AA) and decrease the formation of
pro-inflammatory mediators. We investigated the effects of
consumption of diets containing 0.25wt% sesamin and 15 wt%
safflower oil (SO) (providing 12% of the added fat as linoleic
acid) or a 15 wt% 2:1 mixture of linseed oil and SO (LOSO)
(providing 6% alpha-linolenic acid and 6% linoleic acid) for 3
weeks on the liver membrane fatty acid composition and on the
production of prostaglandin (PG) E2, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL10
in mice. Consumption of sesamin- supplemented SO and LOSO
diets resulted in a significant increase in the levels of
20:3omega6 (DGLA), suggesting that sesamin inhibited delta-5
desaturation of omega6 fatty acids. In animals fed LOSO diets,
the levels of alpha-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid
(EPA) and of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were elevated with a
concomitant decrease of arachidonic acid (AA) in the liver
membrane phospholipids. Further, in animals fed LOSO diets
with or without sesamin, an increase in the circulating levels
of TNF-alpha was associated with a concomitant decrease in
PGE2. Despite a lack of differences in the levels of AA, the
PGE2 levels were significantly lower in mice fed sesamin-
supplemented SO compared to those fed SO alone. Thus, these
data suggest that irrespective of the availability of a
specific fatty acid as a substrate, through regulating the
PGE2 synthesis, the production of TNF-alpha could be
modulated.

PMID: 9610840 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

---------------------------------

Who loves ya. Tom

Jesus Was A Vegetarian! http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com

Man Is A Herbivore! http://tinyurl.com/a3cc3

DEAD PEOPLE WALKING http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk


> On Nov 3, 7:27 am, monty1...@lycos.com wrote:
>
> > This sounds like a good study I cited on my site, which
> > found butter to help in the bone growth process but corn
> > oil to be inhibitive. Many "diseases" that exist now to a
> > much greater degree than in the past seem to be due to the
> > excessive free radical activity (mostly in vivo lipid
> > peroxidation), which is due especially to the use of
> > highly refined and unsaturated oils.
>
> It's also interesting that the best herb used for treating
> arthritis is a specific 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) inhibitor.
> This enzyme makes leukotrienes from the arachidonic acid
> (AA). These leukotrienes like LTB4 are very powerful tissue
> destructors via proteolysis. Also note that the cysteinyl
> leukotrienes are responsible for allergies and asthma. If
> Mead acid is used instead of AA as a substrate for 5-LOX, a
> less reactive leukotriene LTA3 is made which may have just
> the right amount of activity for a brief proteolytic pulse
> to clean the debris in a wound before the rebuilding process
> driven by prostaglandins starts. With the AA metabolites,
> the tissue may be permanently stuck in the original
> destructive phase of inflammation ... For people with AA in
> the cartilage it may be difficult to replace it with the
> Mead acid by simple diet since the cartilage has no blood
> supply and very low tissue turnover. However, this may help
> when manufacturing the cartilage for tissue engineering in
> vitro since it's easy to make the cells in a culture "EFAD"
> and tissues with no AA in them are immunologically very
> suitable for transplants (no rejection due to AA- driven
> inflammation).
>
> Taka
>
> About the 5-LOX inhibitor Boswellia
> serrata:http://tinyurl.com/2wcfeu

[Ironjustic]

>> On Nov 2, 7:00 pm, Taka <taka0...@gmail.com> wrote: It's
>> also interesting that the best herb used for treating
>> arthritis
is a specific 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) inhibitor. <<

Seems the .. 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor Zileuton .. "reportedly
inhibits 5-LO via iron chelation" ..

Those short-chain fatty acids contain .. phytic acid ..
another premiere iron binder / chelator.

Lipoxygenase Inhibitors as Potential Cancer
Chemopreventives ... -
2:43pmZileuton reportedly inhibits 5-LO via iron chelation but
is devoid of 12- and 15-LO inhibitory activity (146) . After
extensive clinical evaluation, ...
cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/8/5/467?
maxtoshow=&HITS=&hits=&RESULTFORMAT=&fullt... - Similar
pages - Note this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zileuton Zileuton (INN) is an
asthma drug. It blocks leukotriene synthesis by inhibiting
5-lipoxygenase, an enzyme of the eicosanoid synthesis pathway.

Who loves ya. Tom

Jesus Was A Vegetarian! http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com

Man Is A Herbivore! http://tinyurl.com/a3cc3

DEAD PEOPLE WALKING http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk

> On Nov 3, 7:27 am, monty1...@lycos.com wrote:
>
> > This sounds like a good study I cited on my site, which
> > found butter to help in the bone growth process but corn
> > oil to be inhibitive. Many "diseases" that exist now to a
> > much greater degree than in the past seem to be due to the
> > excessive free radical activity (mostly in vivo lipid
> > peroxidation), which is due especially to the use of
> > highly refined and unsaturated oils.
>
> It's also interesting that the best herb used for treating
> arthritis is a specific 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) inhibitor.
> This enzyme makes leukotrienes from the arachidonic acid
> (AA). These leukotrienes like LTB4 are very powerful tissue
> destructors via proteolysis. Also note that the cysteinyl
> leukotrienes are responsible for allergies and asthma. If
> Mead acid is used instead of AA as a substrate for 5-LOX, a
> less reactive leukotriene LTA3 is made which may have just
> the right amount of activity for a brief proteolytic pulse
> to clean the debris in a wound before the rebuilding process
> driven by prostaglandins starts. With the AA metabolites,
> the tissue may be permanently stuck in the original
> destructive phase of inflammation ... For people with AA in
> the cartilage it may be difficult to replace it with the
> Mead acid by simple diet since the cartilage has no blood
> supply and very low tissue turnover. However, this may help
> when manufacturing the cartilage for tissue engineering in
> vitro since it's easy to make the cells in a culture "EFAD"
> and tissues with no AA in them are immunologically very
> suitable for transplants (no rejection due to AA- driven
> inflammation).
>
> Taka
>
> About the 5-LOX inhibitor Boswellia
> serrata:http://tinyurl.com/2wcfeu