Glycocalyx

The endothelial glycocalyx (EG) lining the endoluminal surface of the capillaries has been proposed as a key component of the microcirculation and a major player in microvascular pathology. Recent advances in the understanding of its physiological role and clinical significance have been made upon t …

One of the most essential elements for your good health lies in the endothelial glycocalyx, a vast protective gel lining of all of our capillaries that touches each of your trillions of cells. In this video, travel inside your vascular system and flow along with your blood. Every cell of your body is nourished by the blood that travels through the capillaries that make up 99% of your circulatory system-from head to toe. Placed end-to-end, scientists estimate they would extend 60,000 miles, enough to go around the earth two and a half times. With every heartbeat, vital nutrients and oxygen are delivered and waste is removed from each cell. This essential process breaks down with aging, poor diet, lack of exercise, genetics, stress and smoking. New medical science has revealed the importance of a transparent micro-thin gel-like lining in your blood vessels that protects your entire circulatory system. In the past, blood vessels were thought to be simple hollow tubes. But with today’s high resolution video microscopes, a discovery reveals that the entire circulatory system is coated with a gel like lining that protects the inside walls of the arteries, veins and capillaries. This protective gel-like lining of the capillaries and all other blood vessels is called the glycocalyx. Its integrity is essential to the healthy function of all the cells, organs and body systems. The glycocalyx keeps your body healthy in three critical ways. First, it functions as the natural trigger that stimulates the production of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is vital in controlling blood flow and blood pressure. The glycocalyx stores anti-oxidants and, working together with nitric oxide, both increase blood flow, on demand, when organs call for it. For example, when you’re walking upstairs. Or even when your brain is working through a difficult problem. Bottom line: your body needs a thick and healthy glycocalyx to efficiently regulate blood flow. Second, a healthy glycocalyx allows your body to engage more of the available capillaries of the microvascular system when blood flow increases. This is critical to regulate the supply of nutrients and oxygen, and the removal of waste and carbon dioxide, according to the body’s level of activity, such as when you exercise. Bottom line: While blood flow control is important, the glycocalyx allows your body to engage more capillaries when organs demand nourishment and waste removal. Third, capillaries are much more than simple hollow tubes. In fact, their inner surface is coated with the non-stick glycocalyx that prevents loss of capillaries through fluid leakage, blood clotting and inflammation. This coating prevents sticking when you don’t need it, and it keeps blood clotting and inflammation under control. For example, when your body’s healthy, it can repair a simple cut or fight an infection. Bottom line: a healthy glycocalyx not only engages more capillaries when blood flow goes up, but it also protects the capillary network and even the entire vascular system from deterioration and loss. Ongoing clinical research from more than 85 studies confirms that a compromised glycocalyx and a damaged microvascular system are linked to organ starvation. Early warning signs of organ starvation include cold hands and feet, leg cramps, skin problems, hair thinning, fatigue, lack of focus, memory loss, certain eye problems, hearing loss, severe PMS, erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, and even type 2 diabetes. Emerging research is beginning to show that it’s not too late to slow down, or even reverse, the breakdown of the protective properties of the glycocalyx. Learn more about this and how to restore, protect and regenerate the glycocalyx at Microvascular.com. Images from this study co-authored by Dr. Hans Vink, Chief Science Officer of GlycoCheck and Microvascular Health Solutions: Endothelial glycocalyx as potential diagnostic and therapeutic target in cardiovascular disease (https://journals.lww.com/colipidology/Abstract/2009/02000/Endothelial_glycocalyx_as_potential_diagnostic_and.11.aspx). Broekhuizen LN, Mooij HL, Kastelein JJ, Stroes ES, Vink H, Nieuwdorp M. Curr Opin Lipidol. 2009 Feb;20(1):57-62.

GlycoCheck is a leading provider of imaging solutions based on an innovative measurement system of the Glycocalyx layer. GlycoCheck solutions facilitate the accurate, reliable and non-invasive selection, detection & monitoring of patients in primary care, intensive care, cardiology and internal medicine.

Non-invasive GlycoCheck testing technology quantifies vessel density, red blood cell concentration, blood flow and glycocalyx function.

In this series you will gain the clearest explanation you will ever hear to help you understand how to completely reverse Type 2 Diabetes, how to understand your lipid profile LDL, HDL and VLDL, and how to reverse atherosclerotic coronary artery disease naturally. In addition, you will learn the extremely harmful effects of sugar, and you will understand how the structure lining the arteries plays a critical role in health and arterial disease. 1. Reversing Diabetes 2. Lowering Cholesterol Naturally 3. Fructose Poisoning of the Liver 4. The Glycocalyx

You may not know it, but like so many people, your body could be on a perilous journey down a spiral of troubling conditions and silent killers. Healthy organs are nourished with vital nutrients and oxygen, while waste and carbon dioxide are removed with every heartbeat—if the microscopic capillaries that feed all of the cells in your body are thriving. But that process can be severely impaired—and life-supporting capillaries can even disappear if their protective gel-like lining—the glycocalyx—is damaged. Let’s see how easily—and silently—this happens. Over time, aging, poor diet, lack of exercise, genetics, stress, smoking—and even conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure—combined with other risk factors—can slowly, but surely, break down the glycocalyx. Damaged microvessels—your capillaries, for the most part—become leaky, lose function, and their numbers decrease. So, the vital delivery of nutrients, hormones, and oxygen is compromised—as is the removal of waste and carbon dioxide. The downward spiral continues. Deprived of this critical, regenerative exchange, organ starvation begins, weakening vital processes in the heart, kidneys, lungs, and brain. Diseases and conditions can set in, including heart and kidney disease, lung disease, stroke and dementia, septic shock, inflammatory disorders—and even cancer metastasis. With so many areas of the body and its functions under attack, complications develop. Critical organs fail—one after the next. Finally, the body’s ability to keep up with the assault fails, and can lead to death. Fortunately, this spiral of breakdowns can be identified in the early stages so you can make changes before it’s too late. Learn more by clicking the button below or visiting https://microvascular.com/.

A thick endothelial surface coat consisting of the glycocalyx and associated plasma proteins has been hypothesized to reduce functional capillary volume available for flowing plasma macromolecules an

The cerebral microcirculation and its glycocalyx, a matrix coating the luminal endothelium, are key regulators of capillary permeability and cerebral …

13 early warning signs all point to a single hidden problem. Your microvascular system may be breaking down, and your organs could be slowly starving and you don’t even know it. These early warning signs may be caused by a problem hidden in the smallest blood vessels in your body—your microscopic capillaries. Learn more at https://microvascular.com/.

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This review aims at presenting state-of-the-art knowledge on the composition and functions of the endothelial glycocalyx. The endothelial glycocalyx is a network of membrane-bound proteoglycans and glycoproteins, covering the endothelium luminally. Both ...

Could you have imagined that one of the most essential elements for your good health lies in a vast protective gel lining of all of your capillaries that touches each of your trillions of cells … and most likely, you’ve never even heard about it. Come with me as we travel inside your vascular system and flow along with your blood. Every cell of your body is nourished by the blood that travels through the capillaries that make up 99% of your circulatory system-from head to toe. Placed end-to-end, scientists estimate they would extend 60,000 miles, enough to go around the earth two and a half times. With every heartbeat, vital nutrients and oxygen are delivered and waste is removed from each cell. This essential process breaks down with aging, poor diet, lack of exercise, genetics, stress and smoking. New medical science has revealed the importance of a transparent micro-thin gel-like lining in your blood vessels that protects your entire circulatory system. In the past, blood vessels were thought to be simple hollow tubes. But with today’s high resolution video microscopes, a discovery reveals that the entire circulatory system is coated with a gel like lining that protects the inside walls of the arteries, veins and capillaries. This protective gel-like lining of the capillaries and all other blood vessels is called the glycocalyx. Its integrity is essential to the healthy function of all the cells, organs and body systems. The glycocalyx keeps your body healthy in three critical ways. First, it functions as the natural trigger that stimulates the production of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is vital in controlling blood flow and blood pressure. The glycocalyx stores anti-oxidants and, working together with nitric oxide, both increase blood flow, on demand, when organs call for it. For example, when you’re walking upstairs. Or even when your brain is working through a difficult problem. Bottom line: your body needs a thick and healthy glycocalyx to efficiently regulate blood flow. Second, a healthy glycocalyx allows your body to engage more of the available capillaries of the microvascular system when blood flow increases. This is critical to regulate the supply of nutrients and oxygen, and the removal of waste and carbon dioxide, according to the body’s level of activity, such as when you exercise. Bottom line: While blood flow control is important, the glycocalyx allows your body to engage more capillaries when organs demand nourishment and waste removal. Third, capillaries are much more than simple hollow tubes. In fact, their inner surface is coated with the non-stick glycocalyx that prevents loss of capillaries through fluid leakage, blood clotting and inflammation. This coating prevents sticking when you don’t need it, and it keeps blood clotting and inflammation under control. For example, when your body’s healthy, it can repair a simple cut or fight an infection. Bottom line: a healthy glycocalyx not only engages more capillaries when blood flow goes up, but it also protects the capillary network and even the entire vascular system from deterioration and loss. Ongoing clinical research from more than 50 studies confirms that a compromised glycocalyx and a damaged microvascular system are linked to organ starvation. Early warning signs of organ starvation include cold hands and feet, leg cramps, skin problems, hair thinning, fatigue, lack of focus, memory loss, certain eye problems, hearing loss, severe PMS, erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, and even type 2 diabetes. Emerging research is beginning to show that it’s not too late to slow down, or even reverse, the breakdown of the protective properties of the glycocalyx. More at https://microvascular.com/

Sugar-protein glycocalyx coats healthy endothelium, but its ultrastructure is not well described. Our aim was to determine the three-dimensional ultrastructure of capillary endothelial glycocalyx in the heart, kidney, and liver, where capillaries are, ...