PRP
The Three Housekeeping Cells from the Bone Marrow.
The bones are best known for their structural support. We can stand up only because our bones allow us to rise against the force of gravity. But the bones have another function. Within the bones, the soft marrow provides a crucial life-sustaining “housekeeping” services by continuing to produce 3 types of blood cells. They are (1) the red blood cells, (2) the white blood cells, and (3) the yellow blood cells.
First and the foremost, we need energy to move, grow, heal, and even digest. The red blood cells generate energy. How is this done? The red blood cells contain hemoglobins that have high affinity to oxygen. They pick up oxygen molecules from the lungs and deliver them to the body’s organs and tissues. Without oxygen, cells rely on anaerobicrespiration to generate energy. Anaerobic respiration yields only 2 ATP energy molecules for each glucose molecule; but with oxygen, the cell yields 36 units of ATP! Presence of oxygen makes 1,800% increase in fuel efficiency. You probably have heard the term anemia. Anemia is made up of an = no, hemia = blood. In other words, lack of blood, or more specifically, lack of red blood cells. Anemia produces symptoms of terrible fatigue because the body’s cells, including the muscle cells and the brain cells, are not able to generate enough energy in the absence of oxygen. High degree of tissue oxygen saturation (where cells are flooded with oxygen) is one reason why people who regularly engage in deep diaphragmatic breathing tends to have greater energy—let that be athletes, Qigong or yoga practitioners. In many cultures the word for air (before scientists discovered that the energy-giving substance within the air is oxygen) is synonymous with energy, vitality, life, and even immortal aspects of humans. To give some examples, Qi in Chinese, Ki in Korean or Japanese, Prana in Sanskrit, Spiritus in Latin, and Pneuma in Greek all are different words for air.
The human body requires energy to grow, heal, fight infection, think, and feel. In fact, for the life to go on, we need oxygen. And the red blood cells work hard to provide us with oxygen. For simplicity, more red blood cells mean more oxygen, and more oxygen means more energy!
The Story of the White Blood Cells.
Secondly, as long as we live, we have to deal with the problem of germs that continue to “slip in” through various channels such as consuming contaminated foods or having a cut on the skin. A healthy skin on the outside and the healthy mucosal layer inside (the mouth and gut lining) form an unbroken barrier between the orderly inside world of the body and the chaotic outside world. When a cut occurs in the skin, mouth or the gut, the natural “seal” is now broken, and germs invade to claim the human tissues and organs as their resources to consume and reproduce. This destructive attempt is disabled by the white blood cells. They rush to the regions where the injuries have occurred and eliminate the pathogenic invaders. The white blood cells prevent the human body from becoming the food, shelter, or breeding grounds for the hostile germs.
The white blood cells have another important function. Not all threats come from the outside world. Recently in the last 20 years, studies have shown that certain animal products, such as chickens and beef may be carriers for oncogenic viruses[1][2][3][4]. When our normal healthy cells become cancerous, it is our immune cells that come to quickly recycle them.
In conclusion, the white blood cells do not have the great affinity to oxygen as the red blood cells, but instead they have affinity to germs and cancer cells to keep the body clean of pathogenic entities.
[1] Rohrmann 2013. Every 50g of chicken one consumes raises pancreatic cancer risk by 72%. Meat and fish consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Int. J. Cancer: 132, 617-624 (2013).
[2] Rohrmann 2011. A serving of chicken (100g) raised the blood cancer risk NHL lymphoma by 470%. Oncogenic virus called avian leukemia lymphoma virus is the likely cause. Consumption of meat and airy and lymphoma risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Int. J. Cancer, 623-634 (2011).
[3] Richman 2010. Men who belong to the top 25% who consume the greatest amounts of poultry had 401% increased risk of prostate cancer compared to the lowest 25%. Intakes of meat, fish, poultry, and eggs and risk of prostate cancer progression. Am J Clin Nutr 2010;91:712-21 (2010).
[4] Singh 1998. Eating red meat (beef) more than once per week led to 190% increase in colon cancer. Surprisingly, eating white meat more than once per week led to 329% increase in colon cancer. Dietary risk factors for colon cancer in a low-risk population. Am J Epidemiology (1988).
The Story of the Yellow Blood Cells.
Thirdly, humans are constantly in need of healing from their injuries. Whether the injuries are from a paper cut or from motor vehicle accident, in order to heal, we need the yellow blood cells. Although recently, the term yellow blood cells have fallen out of favor, and instead the term megakaryocytes are more commonly used. The yellow blood cells contain the growth factors. They are called the growth factors because they literally cause the growth of tissues they attach to. In other words, they will cause the growth of healthy new skin tissues when they reach the injured skin. They will cause the growth of healthy new liver cells when they reach the injured liver tissue. Because of the yellow blood cells’ natural ability to heal, PRP (concentrated yellow blood cells) therapy is used to heal otherwise chronic injuries. There are 9 growth factors discovered in the yellow blood cells:
- Platelet-derived growth factor
- Transforming growth factorInsulin-like growth factor 1
- Insulin-like growth factor 2
- Fibroblast growth factor
- Vascular endothelial growth factor
- Epidermal growth factor
- Connective tissue growth factor
- Keratinocyte growth factor
All of them are present in the yellow blood cells. When an injury happens, the injured cells send out chemokines that bring the yellow blood cells to the injure site. The yellow blood cells then split up into 3,000 to 5,000 platelets. They are known as the platelets because they resemble “tiny plates” in shape when they are viewed under the microscope. They are also called the thrombocytes because they can cause clotting (thrombos is Greek for “blood clot” and cyte is another word for cell).
Upon an injury, the blood delivers platelets to the injured areas. However, there are certain types of tissues that do not receive the needed vigorous blood supply. This is particularly the case with the ligaments and tendons. The ligaments and tendons do not heal quickly because they get very little blood supply. One can tell how much blood a tissue gets by just looking at them. If you could peek at your own tendon, ligament, or cartilage, you would realize that they are typically white in color. This lack of reddishness indicates lack of blood supply. On the other hand, the liver is deep red in color because of the vigorous amount of blood supply. Although there are exceptions, given the same type of tissue, a rule of thumb is that if a tissue gets plenty blood supply, that tissue will heal faster. If a tissue has a restricted blood supply, the healing would slow down.
The lack of blood supply to the joints is the primary reason why they do not heal well when they are injured. This is why a sprained ankle (typically the lateral ankle ligaments between fibula and tibia, talus or calcaneus) or a low back pain (typically a sacroiliac ligament tear) is very slow to heal. Not much blood reaches those ligaments and tendons.
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a therapy that speeds up healing in regions where healing is naturally too slow. PRP directly supplies the concentrated platelets (the yellow blood cells) to the injured ligaments. The most commonly used reason for PRP is to heal the tendons and ligaments.
PRP is performed within 75 minutes for a thorough treatment. PRP requires the fibers or the ligaments, tendons, or muscles to be aligned in healthy position first. An analogy is found in gluing together two pieces of wood. The pieces must be in correct alignment for the ideal result. While carpenter’s glue may bond in 3—7 days, ligaments and tendons require 8-12 weeks of time, during which mobilizing (stretching) of the joints should be avoided in order to create the best healing response. In order to prevent stretching and tearing of the targeted tissues, the patient may be asked to wear a well-designed brace to augment the joints. Wearing braces for 8—12 weeks will weaken the muscles slightly around where the braces have been worn, but once the joints are healed, the muscles return to normal level of strength and size within 2 months. However, ligaments and tendons may never heal when subjected to constant reinjuries. Therefore, despite the temporary weakening of the muscles, braces are to be worn to heal the ligaments and tendons first, and then the muscles can be strengthened afterwards.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.