Douglas Mulhall - #17 - Apr 12, 2025

Mike: 00:00:16

Welcome to the Neurostimulation Podcast.

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I'm Michael Passmore, clinical

associate professor in the Department

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of Psychiatry at the University of

British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

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The Neurostimulation podcast is all about

exploring the world of neuroscience and

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clinical neurostimulation, how it works,

the latest research breakthroughs, and

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how that research is being translated

into real world treatments that

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can improve health and wellbeing.

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This podcast is separate from my

clinical and academic roles, and

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is part of my personal effort to

bring neuroscience education to

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the general public free of charge.

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Accordingly, I would like to emphasize

that the information shared in

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this podcast is for educational

purposes only and is not intended

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as medical advice or a substitute

for professional medical guidance.

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Today's episode is presented

by ZipStim neurostimulation.

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Full disclosure, ZipStim is

the neurostimulation clinic

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that I own and operate.

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You can find out more about our clinical

neurostimulation programs at zipstim.com.

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That's Z-I-P-S-T-I-M.com.

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Today I am really looking forward to

a discussion with Douglas Mulhall.

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Douglas is a science journalist,

researcher, and author of Discovering

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the Nature of Longevity, a groundbreaking

book on how hidden stress silently

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erodes our health and how new

therapies are turning the tide.

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With a foreword by Columbia University's

chief of cardiology and a recommendation

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from the American Institute of Stress,

Douglas brings to life little known

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but deeply relevant topics like why

elastin proteins and not collagen are

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key to vitality, and how reversing

arterial damage is helping patients

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to avoid amputations and aneurysms.

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He joins us today from Canada's

east coast to share his expertise on

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elastin and the impact of elastin on

aging and various health problems.

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Douglas: Hello everybody.

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My name is Douglas Mulhall and

I'm here to present to you today

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this presentation, which is called

Restoring the Elastic of Life?

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And you'll see why the question mark is

there as we go through the presentation.

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Elastin fiber from a bird's eye view.

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The reason I put that in is

because this is really a general

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introduction to elastin fiber.

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It's not very technical but the

reason that we're doing it this way is

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because actually a lot of patients and

even a lot of medical experts might

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have heard something remotely about

elastin, but quite often don't have the

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faintest idea what it actually does.

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And so this is a beginning introduction

to that call it elastin for dummies.

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And we might in, in future presentations,

delve into some of the more specific

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conditions that surround elastin fiber.

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So without further ado, there is a

really important thing that everybody

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who deals with elastin has to understand.

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And that is the nomenclature because

there's a lot of confus about it.

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And you'll see why.

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First of all, there's the ELN gene that

actually codes for elastin protein.

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This is where, the whole thing

gets started, and that's happening,

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of course inside the cell.

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Then there is a precursor to

elastin protein and elastin fiber,

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which is called tropo elastin.

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And this is one of the

key building blocks.

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It's also used in therapy

as we'll get to later.

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Then there is actually the elastin

protein itself which comes out of

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this assembly process from tropo,

elastin, and other substances.

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And finally, and the main topic

of the presentation today there is

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the elastin fiber, which is a very

sophisticated combination of elastin

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precursors in the extracellular matrix,

which I'll talk about in a moment.

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And these come together with microfibers

and other substances to weave into

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this extremely flexible, extremely

tough and long lived elastin fiber.

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The problem in the literature

is that even in some of the best

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scientific publications about it,

they used elastin for short to

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refer to one or several of these.

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So when you're reading through

some of the literature, it's just

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important to understand that there

are at least these four aspects

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when we're referring to elastin.

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And so when I refer to elastin here,

mostly I'm gonna be talking about the

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fiber and in some cases the protein.

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So everyone's familiar with collagen.

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It's of course in volume, far

more plentiful than elastin.

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But they are closely connected

cousins and together they do really

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some miraculous things in the body.

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So I just thought I'd give a brief

introduction to how they fit together.

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First of all, collagen

provides strength and firmness.

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This is the most important

thing about collagen.

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But elastin provides the flexibility,

the recoil, and the support for tissue.

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And this, these two things together

are what make up most of the

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extracellular matrix that connects

almost everything in the body.

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And they are referred to variously

as fascia the interstitium and

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a connective tissue, all of

which are slightly different.

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But they're basically made up of similar

components that I just described.

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And by the way a couple of

years ago, the interstitium was

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named an organ in the body and

actually the body's largest organ.

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So you can see how pervasive

the role of this collagen and

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elastin mix is in the body.

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So elastin fiber, you can see here on the

left hand side, this is a actual elastin

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fiber that is, it's a bovine sample.

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And that's the stuff that

that stretches and recoils.

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It makes up anywhere between a half of

1% and 70% of most connective tissues.

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And I'll get to the details in a moment,

but what you're looking at here is

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basically the the elastin protein, and

it has a really miraculous quality,

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and that is that it can expand and

contract to eight times its standing

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length in a fraction of a second.

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Billions of times in a

lifetime without any turnover.

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It's half life is 70 years.

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And so it, this makes it one of

the toughest and most unusual

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tissues in the human body.

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So elastin is in so many places in

the body and plays a fundamental role.

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The arteries, especially

the larger arteries.

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It is between five and 50 percent

especially around the aorta.

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It's there's a large amount

of elastin there, which is

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crucial, as I'll explain later.

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Heart valves about 10 to 15%.

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Again, a critical aspect.

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And it's interesting because one

side of heart valves has less elastin

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and one side has more elastin which

actually explains why heart valves

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stop working, and I'll get to that.

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In a moment.

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Pulmonary lungs between three and 17%,

and most critically it is found in the

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air sacks, and that's what allows the

air sacks to expand and contract to,

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get the oxygen in and out of the body.

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Muscle connective tissue.

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Yeah, more or less, 15%.

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But what's interesting is that, when you

look at the literature, it says there's

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really not that much elastin in muscle.

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But actually elastin is critical for

muscular function because they're

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tiny strings of it that are actually

connecting the different muscle fibers

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that allow muscle to expand and contract.

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If that elastin wasn't there,

they wouldn't be able to do that.

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The eyes the eyes have it,

and it's interesting because

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it's all throughout the eye.

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It's in, especially in the

trabecular meshwork that

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controls intraocular pressure.

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So it's a key player in controlling eye

pressure, but it's also in the sclera.

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And most, perhaps most importantly it

surrounds the optic nerve and it protects

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the optic nerve from variations in.

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Intraocular pressure.

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So it's a very small amount, but it

plays critical roles and it's also a big

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player in disease as we'll see later,

tendons, one to 3%, but a critical one

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to 3% because tendons and ligaments could

not extend and contract without elastin

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fiber and variously in the stomach,

the lining of the stomach the bladder

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the bowel and reproductive organs.

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And I can't emphasize enough that

none of these organs would be able

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to function without elastin fiber,

which, when you think of it, explains

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a lot about why we start having

problems with our organs later in life.

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It, this is a major factor

here, is elastin fiber.

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And to be clear, it's in the wall

of the artery in the medial layer.

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That is where the elastin fiber is found,

which as we'll see later, explains why

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calcification happens in the medial layer.

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Healthy elastin can stretch and

recoil and degraded elastin frays.

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Now all of that is fine as long as

your body is, producing elastin fiber

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because then you can replace it.

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But most of the elastin fiber in your body

is actually generated when you're a child.

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And more, does come along in

your teens, but then it starts

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to it starts to just not happen

anymore, and that's the problem.

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The body stops assembling elastin fiber

when you get into your late twenties.

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The world's top experts cannot explain

why all the experts who are, developing

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therapies for this, I've asked them.

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And it's just, it's something

that's programmed into us.

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And the big problem with that is, is

that after the body stops assembling

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elastin, and I wanna emphasize, it's

interesting because the building

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blocks of elastin fiber continue

to be produced, but they don't

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assemble in the extracellular matrix.

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And that's when the trouble starts.

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Because there's nothing to

replace the elastin fiber when

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it is injured and damaged.

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So it starts falling apart.

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It starts falling apart

slowly and causing a lot of.

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Trouble that you don't really

realize until later in life.

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So elastin degrades in

absolutely everyone.

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And you can see here these nice

smooth tendrils of elastin in a

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five-year-old, and then this mass of

frayed stiff elastin in a 90-year-old.

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And I think this is one of the best visual

representations of why we get stiff.

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So that brings us to the patient.

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How elastin affects the patient

and is affected by the patient.

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And one thing to emphasize is

that the modifiable risk factors

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that affect elastin are in many

ways similar to cardiovascular

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risks modifiable risk factors.

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Not all of them, but many of them are.

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Which again, explains why you have these

these problems developing after the

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age of 30 with cardiovascular system.

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So stress, all kinds of stress,

emotional stress toxic stress

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re repetitive stress injuries.

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All of those things contribute

to degrading elastin fiber

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smoking and wildfire smoke.

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Is a big problem for elastin fiber

because it contains a lot of heavy

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metals that are particularly bad for it.

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Poor diet too much junk food.

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Red meat and dairy products tend to

be pro-inflammatory, so anything that

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promotes an inflammatory cycle in the

body, any type of food is going to cause

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oxidative stress that damages elastin.

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If you drink too much,

it's gonna cause a problem.

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Elastin doesn't like too much alcohol.

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Any carcinogen again, generates this

oxidative stress that causes this damage.

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Injuries and injuries include

by the way, surgical scars.

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So the and any kind of scar

because scarring happens.

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Largely because the elastin fiber

is completely destroyed when it's

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wounded when you cut into it.

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And that's why when you get the healing

the scar is tough because the elastin

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is basically destroyed radiation.

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So astronauts in space, one of the reasons

that they start to have many of them

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start to have cardiovascular problems

is because radiation is knocking bits

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and pieces off of the elastin fiber

and promoting an inflammatory cascade.

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Sheer stress sheer stress is.

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The, oddly enough the physical stress of

red blood cells bumping along the side of

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the artery, and this sheer stress actually

creates micro injuries that are constantly

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being healed and repaired in the artery,

except when we start to get older.

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Heavy metals is a big one.

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For those of you who might not be

aware heavy metals such as lead

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cadnium and chromium, I believe were

declared last year by the American

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Heart Association to be a major risk

factor for cardiovascular disease.

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It's the first time that an

environmental factor has actually

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been listed as a cardiovascular risk.

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And part of that is because of the

damage that they do to elast fiber.

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And finally infection.

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But not just any infection, but low

grade infection that often escapes.

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Notice when testing is done

anything from gingivitis to any

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type of very low chlamydia, for

example, is another example.

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Some things which are not tested for

and are there at very low levels.

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Helicobacter pylori which is

the cause of stomach ulcers.

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And many of us are infected with it.

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We just don't get the ulcers.

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So all of these infections have an

impact on elastin fiber and covid.

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So COVI attacks the

lining of the arteries.

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And that is a major reason why so many

people who were hospitalized or died

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from covid had cardiovascular problems.

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And it's a major reason why some people

who had severe covid went on to develop

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cardiovascular problems because it

attacks the lining of the artery, and

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that's where the elastin is found.

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So those are some of the examples.

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Now, if you're trying to say to a

patient, if you're trying to explain

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to them what is elastin fiber, I always

do something called the pinch test.

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And actually anybody can do it right

now who's watching or listening.

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What you do is you take the skin

between your thumb and your forefinger,

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and you hold it up for about five

seconds and then you let it go.

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And if you're young,

it'll snap right back.

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If you're older, it'll

go down more slowly.

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And if you're very old,

it doesn't go down at all.

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It just stays up there.

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That is not the collagen in your skin,

that is principally the elastic fiber

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the cosmetics companies would have.

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You think that it's collagen because

they've figured out how to fix collagen

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more or less, or there are some

things that they can do to improve it.

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Not so with elastin.

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So that's why until very recently, they

haven't been talking about it that much.

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For patients, why do we get wrinkles?

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Once again, as I said, cosmetics

manufacturers are happy to

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tell patients that collagen

is responsible for wrinkling.

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But the reason we wrinkle is because

we lose the elasticity in our skin.

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So yes, collagen has something to

do with that if you're losing the

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firmness, but it's principally the

elastin that causes this wrinkling

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same internally, the bladder.

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One of the major reasons why people have

to pee more frequently as they get older

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is because the bladder wall stiffens.

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And that bladder wall, as you

can see at the inset is actually,

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has got elastin fiber in it.

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And that is what allows the bladder

to expand and contract so easily.

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So you can imagine when elastin

gets damaged and starts to harden

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what happens to your ability to pee?

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Whoops, sorry.

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Back we go.

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This is a really interesting one.

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There's all kinds of reasons that are

given for blood pressure increasing.

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It all comes down to vascular stiffening.

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But that stiffening is often

attributed to plaque, for example.

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But quite often before the plaque ever

comes along and calcify and stiffens

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in the medial layer of the artery,

the elastin gets damaged and you get a

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cascade that I'll talk about in a moment

that leads to fibrosis, stiffening,

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and calcification of the medial

layer, which results in hypertension.

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So yes, it's a major

contributor to hypertension.

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So here's the sequence that happens.

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After Healthy Elastin is

no longer replaced all of

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these antagonists damage it.

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And when elastin is damaged, it actually

lets out a bunch of substances that call

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to the immune cells and say, help me.

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I need to be fixed.

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And so you get this inflammatory

response, and so the cells release

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all these inflammatory substances,

cytokines, et cetera, et cetera, and

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they go and they clean up the mess.

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But if the elastin isn't being replaced

anymore, this becomes a vicious cycle

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because the more that they clean it

away the more that the inflammation

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is caused because nothing is actually

cross-linking the elastin to repair it.

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So after couple of years of this

going on, the body goes to plan B.

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And plan B is to do what the body

does quite well for certain injuries,

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and that is to wall off the offender.

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For example, I froze my earlobe

when I was skiing many years ago.

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And the body actually surrounded

the frozen dead tissue

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with a, a calcified wall.

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And eventually it kicked it out.

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It, so it just popped out of my ear.

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So these types of cysts are very useful

except there's a problem when it comes

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to your vascular system and your organs.

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That doesn't work very well to

wall them all off, but that's

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exactly what the body tries to do.

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In fact.

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It appears to be a defect

in our immune response.

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Our immune system, unlike the immune

systems of certain species of whale

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and shark that live to be 350 years,

hasn't quite figured out the mechanisms

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by which these longer term insults

can be dealt with effectively.

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And so it tries the same short term stuff.

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And the result of that ultimately

is that it tries to wall

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it off with calcification.

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And in fact, elastin is the site of these

tiny little nanometer sized calcification

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crystals that are brought to the site by.

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Membrane vesicles exosomes.

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So the cells emit these

calcifying exosomes.

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They go to the site of

the damaged elastin.

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They release the these microcalcifications

which at that point are just crystals.

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And then they start to

aggregate, and that's when you

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start to get calcification.

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And this does not show up on any scans

until it starts to get really big.

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So the process starts at a very young age.

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Autopsies of young people who died

in war, for example, show that these

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streaks these fatty streaks on the

artery show up very early in life,

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: 00:23:21

but they just, they aren't detected.

307

: 00:23:26

So this, I think is a very

nice representation of what

308

: 00:23:31

happens when you end up with.

309

: 00:23:34

Elastin gone bad, and all the

white stuff that you see there

310

: 00:23:39

is calcification of the arteries.

311

: 00:23:41

This is actually a 3D image

of an actual calcified artery.

312

: 00:23:46

The other way that calcification

occurs is it does occur as

313

: 00:23:50

plaque builds up in the arteries.

314

: 00:23:52

These two things the calcification of

the medial layer and the calcification

315

: 00:23:58

in the plaque in the arteries

seem to be different mechanisms.

316

: 00:24:02

But you get the same thing in the plaque.

317

: 00:24:05

You get the formation of calcified

nodes that destabilize the plaque,

318

: 00:24:12

and those calcified nodes are actually

coming from damage elastin fragments.

319

: 00:24:19

That are released from the artery

wall into the into the plaque in an

320

: 00:24:26

attempt to repair the elastin there.

321

: 00:24:29

So again, it's suspicious cycle.

322

: 00:24:34

Okay you can see from that there's

a whole bunch of medical conditions

323

: 00:24:37

that elastin is associated with.

324

: 00:24:40

On the cardiovascular, you've got

hypertension, aneurysms, stroke,

325

: 00:24:44

arterial sclerosis, and heart failure.

326

: 00:24:47

Also heart valves as I mentioned

earlier, pulmonary, COPD, emphysema PAH,

327

: 00:24:57

kidneys, CKD incontinence, as I

mentioned earlier, vision loss

328

: 00:25:04

damage elastin is, you can see it.

329

: 00:25:07

Actually in in age related macular

degeneration and in glaucoma, especially

330

: 00:25:13

in glaucoma around the optic nerve.

331

: 00:25:16

You can see that the elastin

has been knocked off at

332

: 00:25:20

injury and wound scarring,

as I mentioned earlier, skin

333

: 00:25:24

aging and cancer progression.

334

: 00:25:27

The substance is known as elastin

derived particles are called EDPs and

335

: 00:25:37

EDPs have been shown to promote the

rapid growth of tumors, which is very

336

: 00:25:44

interesting when you think about it.

337

: 00:25:45

Damage elastin is actually

very closely associated with

338

: 00:25:50

the the progression of cancer.

339

: 00:25:53

And there is some evidence

that cancer actually promotes.

340

: 00:25:58

The partial formation of incomplete

elastin fibers and then breaks them down

341

: 00:26:05

to feed on the resulting byproducts.

342

: 00:26:09

It's an ingenious survival tactic.

343

: 00:26:12

But not many people are aware of

this, even though there's quite

344

: 00:26:14

a few papers published about it.

345

: 00:26:17

So we get to prevention and treatment.

346

: 00:26:22

First of all, as I described,

you can easily describe explain

347

: 00:26:25

elastin fiber to your patients.

348

: 00:26:27

Just, with the pinch test, you can

tell them that the same modifiable

349

: 00:26:33

risk factors that are associated with

cardiovascular disease also delay

350

: 00:26:38

the degradation of elastin fiber.

351

: 00:26:40

So there is something that they can do.

352

: 00:26:44

Treatment is still at a very early stage.

353

: 00:26:51

It is coming fast, but I.

354

: 00:26:55

Really it has taken at least 30 years to

figure out how to restore elastin fiber.

355

: 00:27:03

And I'm just gonna describe

a couple of examples of that.

356

: 00:27:09

Right now, in clinical trial, there

is a technique that was developed by

357

: 00:27:14

professor Tony Weiss's team at the

University of Sydney in Australia.

358

: 00:27:18

And they have developed

tropo elastin scaffolds.

359

: 00:27:22

I know I put elastin there, but in

this case, the elastin comes on along

360

: 00:27:26

later for wound and skin repair.

361

: 00:27:29

And what they do is I'll just show you

the mechanism of action here in a minute.

362

: 00:27:35

So this is what a tropho elastin scaffold

looks like, which is, electro spun.

363

: 00:27:39

It doesn't have the

tropho elastin on it yet.

364

: 00:27:42

So pu scaffolds are not just used

for populating with trophoblast and

365

: 00:27:47

they're also used for populating

with cells, et cetera, et cetera.

366

: 00:27:50

So it's an established technology.

367

: 00:27:54

The mechanism of action

works something like this.

368

: 00:27:57

You get the scaffold, which is

electro spun from a solution.

369

: 00:28:02

Then the tropo elastin, the scaffolds

are seeded with tro elastin and they're

370

: 00:28:08

applied to the wound bed where they

integrate with the tissue and they

371

: 00:28:12

accelerate the wound healing process.

372

: 00:28:15

And what that does is it

absolutely minimizes scarring.

373

: 00:28:20

So it's, and it's also being used for

example, to eliminate scarring from acne.

374

: 00:28:29

So the way it works is the tro

elastin releases these peptides that

375

: 00:28:33

attract other cells for wound healing

and promote angiogenesis as well.

376

: 00:28:37

So this contributes to the

elasticity of the new tissue.

377

: 00:28:42

So that is a very bird's eye view of

how a very complicated process works.

378

: 00:28:49

Now, there's another one elastin is

comprised, as I mentioned earlier, of

379

: 00:28:55

this elastin core elastin fiber core.

380

: 00:29:00

And then it's wrapped in these

microfibril and these microfibril help

381

: 00:29:06

it expand and contract horizontally.

382

: 00:29:09

But they also get damaged by all of the

antagonists that I mentioned earlier.

383

: 00:29:16

The, this is the one

on the top is healthy.

384

: 00:29:19

The one on the top is damaged.

385

: 00:29:21

And so this is actually what's

going on inside the human body.

386

: 00:29:26

The result of that is that

the exposed elastin fiber.

387

: 00:29:31

Has a particular protein signature

that it that it displays when the

388

: 00:29:37

microfibers are knocked off of it.

389

: 00:29:39

And this is a unique therapeutic target.

390

: 00:29:43

So in 2007 researchers led by Dr.

391

: 00:29:49

Viri at Clemson University in South

Carolina discovered, and the way

392

: 00:29:57

that they discovered this is Dr.

393

: 00:30:00

Viri was trying to understand

why one side of a heart valve

394

: 00:30:05

calcify and the other side doesn't.

395

: 00:30:07

And when he did the biochemical

analysis of it, he found out that the

396

: 00:30:13

elastin content in one side of the

valve is much higher than the other.

397

: 00:30:17

And it was the side that

gets the higher percentage of

398

: 00:30:21

elastin that actually calcify.

399

: 00:30:23

So from there he started doing a

bunch of in vitro experiments to try

400

: 00:30:27

and figure out how to decalcify it.

401

: 00:30:30

And he went through dozens

and dozens of chemicals.

402

: 00:30:33

But he had heard that tannins can be

effective in restoring some tissues.

403

: 00:30:39

He went through the tannins.

404

: 00:30:41

And the reason that you see this

picture on the right is because one of

405

: 00:30:45

the tannins is something called penta

gall oil glucose, or PGG for short.

406

: 00:30:51

And it is derived from the the

rind of the pomegranate fruit.

407

: 00:30:56

The next time you're, I dunno, have

any of you taken apart a pomegranate,

408

: 00:31:00

but you tend to take the seeds

out and then throw out the rind.

409

: 00:31:02

Don't throw it out.

410

: 00:31:03

Eat it because it's full of PGG.

411

: 00:31:06

That's, that's where it's found.

412

: 00:31:07

But it's also found in tree bark.

413

: 00:31:09

It's found in in grapes.

414

: 00:31:10

It's found in some vegetables.

415

: 00:31:12

Primarily it's just, it, its highest

concentration is in just a few plants.

416

: 00:31:18

It's naturally derived polyphenol

extracted from plants and it

417

: 00:31:25

conserves elastin that conservation

of elastin allows the body to

418

: 00:31:32

kickstart the reassembly process.

419

: 00:31:35

So the PGG appears not to itself restore

the elastin, but rather conserve it

420

: 00:31:42

in a way that allows the body to then

assemble what it has stopped em, because

421

: 00:31:48

all the building blocks are there.

422

: 00:31:53

So the really promising thing

that's gone on is that in a

423

: 00:31:57

phase one clinical trial I.

424

: 00:32:01

Aortic aneurysms were stabilized.

425

: 00:32:04

Now, for those of you who have

any familiarity, and I'm sure most

426

: 00:32:08

people watching this do with aortic

aneurysms, you will know that they

427

: 00:32:13

threaten the lives of more than

10 million people in North America

428

: 00:32:16

alone, and they can burst at any time.

429

: 00:32:20

So the patient is living in fear of this,

and when they reach five millimeters

430

: 00:32:26

in size, you have to take fairly risky

surgery, although the surgery is being

431

: 00:32:30

improved but it can be life-threatening

and it doesn't always work.

432

: 00:32:35

So these aneurysms are a

real problem until now.

433

: 00:32:39

So this phase one clinical trial

actually succeeded in stabilizing

434

: 00:32:43

aneurysms and the therapy.

435

: 00:32:46

Which was developed by Nectar

Medical also based on Dr.

436

: 00:32:51

Viva Hari's work at Clemson University

was, it was sub licensed from Clemson to

437

: 00:32:56

Nectar Medical that is now being used.

438

: 00:32:59

And the phase two three clinical

trial is currently underway.

439

: 00:33:04

And I believe that they're

still recruiting patients even

440

: 00:33:06

though the trial is ongoing.

441

: 00:33:08

Anyone who knows someone who has

an aneurysm that they're concerned

442

: 00:33:13

about should definitely look into the

recruitment of this clinical trial.

443

: 00:33:19

So here's how it works.

444

: 00:33:21

Basically, you've got a balloon

catheter that it's a specialized balloon

445

: 00:33:27

catheter that seals off the artery

at both ends for about 10 minutes.

446

: 00:33:33

And then it inserts the PGG.

447

: 00:33:37

And so the the wall of the artery

gets a good exposure to the PGG

448

: 00:33:43

after which the catheter is removed.

449

: 00:33:46

So it's, there's no

permanent invasiveness.

450

: 00:33:48

It's a pretty standard procedure,

but the balloon catheter, which

451

: 00:33:52

is called the Bullfrog catheter is

actually a very specialized one.

452

: 00:33:56

There's actually two

catheters that are used.

453

: 00:33:59

PGG has this high affinity for elastin.

454

: 00:34:01

It sticks to it.

455

: 00:34:03

And it inhibits all of the elastases,

the enzymes and the MMPs, everything

456

: 00:34:11

that attacks elastin fiber.

457

: 00:34:13

It inhibits those processes.

458

: 00:34:16

And as I mentioned earlier, the

protected elastin fiber can regenerate.

459

: 00:34:20

So that, again, is a very bird's eye view.

460

: 00:34:23

Now preclinical therapeutic innovation

that has been successful in lab animals

461

: 00:34:31

is a combination of combination, a

drug filled nanoparticle or liposome.

462

: 00:34:38

Which is conjugated with an antibody

that is specific for elastin fiber.

463

: 00:34:42

This antibody was developed by Dr.

464

: 00:34:44

Charles Rice again at Clemson University.

465

: 00:34:47

He worked with Dr.

466

: 00:34:48

Viva to do this, and they have published

several papers on this that have shown

467

: 00:34:55

that they were actually able to restore

lung function in emphysema models.

468

: 00:35:01

And they were able to reverse

calcification in other animal models

469

: 00:35:06

and actually restore functionality

and actually reverse senescence.

470

: 00:35:11

And for those of you who are familiar

with senescence, that's quite a phenomenal

471

: 00:35:15

thing to have senescence reversed

when the the cell is decalcified.

472

: 00:35:20

So this is in the works and

the former NIH director, Dr.

473

: 00:35:24

Francis Collins, when he saw

this, he did a blog on it.

474

: 00:35:28

And this is what he said, using these

nanoparticles may enable medical treatment

475

: 00:35:32

without requiring surgical interventions.

476

: 00:35:34

Fixing the vessels may ultimately

reverse the course of the disease.

477

: 00:35:38

And the disease that he was talking

about was cardiovascular disease.

478

: 00:35:42

So you can see the tremendous

potential of this approach.

479

: 00:35:48

So here are some of the

people that I've mentioned Dr.

480

: 00:35:51

Rice, Dr.

481

: 00:35:52

Weiss, and Dr.

482

: 00:35:53

Viva Hari.

483

: 00:35:54

I know them all.

484

: 00:35:56

They are all brilliant.

485

: 00:35:57

And you should watch this

space because I think they're

486

: 00:36:01

going to be doing great things.

487

: 00:36:02

By the way, they're not the only ones

because there are at least three or four

488

: 00:36:06

other therapies that I haven't talked

about that are in earlier stages, and

489

: 00:36:10

that's something to watch for as well.

490

: 00:36:15

Here's some literature on clinical

studies, which you can look at later.

491

: 00:36:17

I just did these three because

they're quite recent and there's

492

: 00:36:22

not that much literature on it.

493

: 00:36:24

There are thousands of published

papers on elastin but on the clinical

494

: 00:36:30

studies, it's still pretty sparse.

495

: 00:36:34

And as a detail, I have written a

book called Discovering the Nature

496

: 00:36:39

of Longevity, which I believe is

the first book for general audiences

497

: 00:36:45

that actually describes what elastin

is, who made the discoveries of the

498

: 00:36:51

therapies that can actually restore it.

499

: 00:36:54

And Dr.

500

: 00:36:55

Cio Lama at Mount Sinai Institute

and Columbia University is

501

: 00:36:59

the chief of cardiology there.

502

: 00:37:01

He wrote the forward to the book and

yeah, you can just have a look at it.

503

: 00:37:08

So as disclosure, I co-founded Elastin

Therapeutics, which has this preclinical

504

: 00:37:14

method that I described, the nanoparticle

conjugated with the the antibody.

505

: 00:37:20

I've been studying

calcification for since: 2004

506

: 00:37:24

And when I saw Dr.

507

: 00:37:25

Viva Hari's paper in 2015, the light went

on because the missing factor was elastin.

508

: 00:37:32

And I immediately flew over and

said, we need to start this up and

509

: 00:37:36

we need to get investors involved.

510

: 00:37:38

So that's what we're doing.

511

: 00:37:41

And that's it.

512

: 00:37:42

If you want to get ahold of me, you

can write me at info@calcify.com

513

: 00:37:48

and the website is www.calcify.com,

514

: 00:37:52

which contains a lot more

information than just about elastin.

515

: 00:37:56

But there is a nice short video on the

homepage and you can have a look at that.

516

: 00:38:01

So I'm gonna wrap this up.

517

: 00:38:03

Thank you very much

518

: 00:38:04

Mike: I really appreciate,

Douglas, it's super interesting.

519

: 00:38:07

Definitely.

520

: 00:38:07

And yeah, so thanks again for a

wonderful presentation and yeah, I'm

521

: 00:38:13

sure that this is gonna stimulate a

lot of interesting conversation and

522

: 00:38:16

consideration among audience members.

523

: 00:38:19

I don't remember getting a lot of

instruction in this area in medical school

524

: 00:38:22

and I think that it's surprising in some

ways because, obviously when you have a

525

: 00:38:29

specific substance, all the associated,

it really affects so many different

526

: 00:38:35

kinds of physiological systems in the

body that has such a wide ranging effect

527

: 00:38:40

on health that it's pretty surprising.

528

: 00:38:43

So very interesting to, to learn about

it and we really appreciate your time and

529

: 00:38:47

your expertise in presenting this Douglas.

530

: 00:38:50

So thanks a lot.

531

: 00:38:51

Douglas: Thank you very

much for having me.

532

: 00:38:52

And that's why I say to borrow

from Sting, every move you make.

533

: 00:38:57

Every breath you take is done by elastin.

534

: 00:39:01

Yes, and thank you again

very much for having me.