- Excerpt
Sometimes, I come across a point of view or hypothesis that shakes “received wisdom”. In this case, “received wisdom” means the commonly held wisdom that the oxygen gas that forms part of the air we inhale passes from the lungs straight into the vascular system, which then transports it to the tissues throughout the body. How could this be otherwise when everyone knows for a fact that oxygen is critical to life and that oxygen deprivation quickly leads to death ?! And then, …, I happened to find yourself reading a scientific article in which the author, professor of bioengineering Gerald Pollack, proposes that it is not the complete oxygen gas that passes from the lungs into the bloodstrean, but electrons extracted from the oxygen by red blood cells when they are being squeezed through the narrow capillaries that abut the lung’s tiny “air-sacs” called “alveoli”.
Table of contents
Life is truly e-Life
After having studied what Pollack proposes in his article “Is it oxygen, or electrons, that our respiratory system delivers?”, ([i]) it suddenly dawned on me that his hypothesis perfectly fits what I wrote in a recent blogpost titled OPCs, vitamin C and E-Life. In that article, I highlighted that “the enormously complex interplay of all the processes taking place in living organisms rests purely on the continuous ‘handling’ and ‘managing’ of an infinitely small sub-atomic particle: the electron. In fact, an electron might be best described as a ‘negatively charged location in space’. As negative charges, electrons not only flow as electricity through the wires of your house, they also flow along the numerous electrical pathways that ‘electrify’ and energize organic life. Besides this, all chemical elements are structures consisting of electrons that orbit around a nucleus consisting of a cluster of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons. Chemical elements, the molecules composed of these elements and the complex compounds composed of these molecules interact through the sharing or exchange of electrons. This vast interplay of negative and positively charged particles makes life a genuinely electric affair.” I concluded that Life is “e-life”. ([ii])
Direct link between respiration and metabolism
Pollack, who is wellknown for his scientific work that concerns the “gel-like” phase of water in living organisms, holds the view that, while respiration undoubtedly involves the inspiration of atmospheric gases, ”it is not oxygen gas that passes from the alveoli [air sacs] to the capillaries [the hair vessels], but electrons extracted from the oxygen. Those electrons are theorized to bind to hemoglobin [red blood cells]. They are then passed by the circulation directly to the tissues, where they support metabolism.” Pollack explains that this pathway establishes “a direct link … between respiration and metabolism” and that “it’s not oxygen gas that our bodies require, but electrons drawn from that oxygen. […] To appreciate how this dynamic might occur, we must recognize that the oxygen molecule is highly electronegative [packed with electrons], one of the most electronegative elements on the periodic table. That means it has a profoundly strong tendency to accumulate electrons.”
Electrons are high in demand
It also means that in the right circumstance oxygen is capable of letting go of its electrons. According to Pollack, “some of those electrons could be drawn off” when a sufficiently positive charge is close enough. “Any such positively charged entity could thus serve as a receptacle for oxygen’s electrons. And if that positive entity happened to lie within a capillary, then it could transport those electrons directly to tissues downstream, where needed. Hence, drawing electrons from even the most electronegative substance would seem at least plausible. Recognizing the ultimate need for electrons in tissue metabolism, one could envision the electrons initially transferred from oxygen to red blood cells, then delivered downstream to relevant sites in tissues. In such a way, the electrons required for metabolism could be delivered directly to the tissues, absent any intermediate steps.”
Oxygen gas can’t pass membranes
Pollack compellingly clarifies the natural logic of his hypothesis by pointing out that the lung-bloodstream electron-transfer mechanism averts the problem that we’re still guessing how it is that oxygen gas is transported through the membrane that surrounds each tiny little air-sac in the lung as well as the adjacent “membrane” that constitutes the thin wall of the small blood vessel. Pollack firmly states that “there is no gas [that] flows in this mechanism.” Besides this, his idea that “it’s only electrons that flow”, also averts the many problems encountered in conclusively understanding how it is that of the air we inhale, which consists of 78% of nitrogen and only 21% oxygen, it is only the oxygen and not the nitrogen that passes fron the lungs to the bloodstream. Even when one takes into consideration the fact that oxygen and nitrogen molecules differ in size, Pollack asserts that the key question remains unresolved: “How can we understand why some gases seem to pass easily from alveoli to capillaries while others do not? […] No obvious answer seems at hand.”
Red blood cells in the capillary
He also explains why it is helpful that red blood cells cannot pass through the narrow capillary unless they are being squeezed through it. Which is, by the way, the reason why red blood cells must be very flexible. If they weren’t, they would cue up before the capillaries and cause a stand-still in the flow of blood. In any case, “those squeezed erythrocytes necessarily abut the capillary wall. In so doing, they ensure contiguous contact: erythrocyte ‒ capillary wall ‒ alveolar wall. Contiguity averts potential complications posed by any intervening insulating layers, ensuring high electrical conductance. In fact, the […] layer that [actively] lines the alveolus is recognized to have particularly high conductance. Thus, electron charge could transfer efficiently from oxygen gas on the alveolar side to erythrocytes on the vascular side. Why capillary diameter would need to be smaller than red-cell diameter can therefore be appreciated: erythrocyte squeeze may be critical for allowing electrons to flow readily from oxygen to abutting red-blood cells.”
Hemoglobin can attract and deliver electrons
Moreover, when the red blood cells are being squeezed, the hemoglobin they contain will get nearer to the capillary wall. This is important because hemoglobin, since it is positively charged, is the very recipient of the electrons. Hence, Pollack’s proposed cycle would proceed as follows: “First, positively charged hemoglobin draws electrons from oxygen. Then it delivers those electrons to the tissues, regaining its positive state and recovering its ability to extract electrons from the inspired oxygen. A central feature of this hypothesis is that the hemoglobin must have the capacity to attract, and then surrender the electrons that it stores. […] As for the electron surrender, it’s noteworthy that hemoglobin has a tendency to easily oxidize, i.e. to lose its electrons.” Pollack concludes that “hemoglobin can evidently attract, and then deliver electrons.”
The endothelium
It’s obvious that the efficacy of the proposed transfer of electrons from the lung’s air-sacs to the erythrocytes hinges for a large part on the integrity of the wall of the capillary. The physical interplay between red blood cells and the capillary must create the largest area of contact between the two, so as to allow the largest possible flux of electrons to reach the hemoglobin in the erythrocytes. It is at this point that the vascular system is at its thinnest. Meaning that what remains of the multi-layered vascular wall is only its inner lining, called endothelium. As the thinnest and most permeable part of the vascular system, the endothelium is able to facilitate the exchange between blood and lymph and tissues. This is how healthy endothelium controls adequate microvascular blood flow, blood pressure, blood distribution, perfusion, and, more in particular, the passage of electrons to and from the red blood cells’ hemoglobin !
Masquelier’s OPCs support microvascular health
Numerous pertinent human, animal and cell studies strongly support the claim that Masquelier’s OPCs can help maintain healthy microvascular structures and functions by positively acting on the microvasculature’s capacity to maintain itself and do what it is supposed to do. OPCs support the constituent network of the microvascular wall by protecting its collagen and elastin fibers against degradation as well as enhancing the synthesis of collagen and by combating inflammation and oxidative stress. Depletion or impairment of the microvascular homeostatic capacity may eventually find its expression in the various phenomena of endothelial dysfunction.
OPCs and electrons in e-Life
And, when it comes to maintaining a healthy e-Life, let’s not forget that compounds known as "free radicals" are to be feared because they heavily and indiscriminately interfere with the normal flow or position of electrons. They crave electrons so much that they steal them from the nearest compound they can get in touch with. When a free radical steals an electron from a compound that lacks the ability to replace it, permanent “free radical damage” will be the result. In biology, antioxidants are e-Life’s solution. They sacrifice themselves to satisfy free radicals’ hunger for electrons and keep them from stealing electrons from and thereby irreparably harming vital elements and structures of your body. Nature has endowed this antioxidative skill to compounds such as OPCs and the vitamins C and E. What makes OPCs so special in this respect is that they contain many electrons that can be donated. So, in a way, while OPCs facilitate maximum passage of electrons to and from the blood stream by supporting capillary integrity, they also protect electrons against being “stolen” by free radicals once they have been delivered to the tissues. In a nutshell, this is how OPCs support e-Life.
[i] Is it oxygen, or electrons, that our respiratory system delivers?; Gerald H. Pollack; Medical Hypotheses; August 2024; Medical Hypotheses 192 (2024) 111467.
[ii] OPCs, vitamin C and E-Life
