Dr. David Steenblock, D.O. Explains the Role of Pericytes in Alzheimer’s Disease and its Treatment

Alzheimer's disease is a neurologic disorder that gradually destroys thinking and memory abilities. It eventually demolishes the skills to carry out average day-to-day functions and tasks. Signs and symptoms of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease may include forgetting recent conversations/events, spatial/vision problems, a difficulty in finding the appropriate words when speaking, impaired judgment/reasoning and mild cognitive impairment. With the disease's progression, patients may develop chronic memory impairment and become violent, worried, and angry coupled with a confused sense-of-self. Patients with severe Alzheimer's disease and their families who are responsible for care-giving often feel lost in a world with little publicly-known treatments.

What causes Alzheimer's disease?

Scientists have found that Alzheimer's disease is caused by multiple factors, including (environmental, genetic, lifestyle) and age-related changes in the brain, but Dr. David Steenblock, D.O. of Personalized Regenerative Medicine in San Clemente, California clarifies that the fundamental underlying cause of Alzheimer's is the damage to the brain cells called pericytes. Pericytes, also termed mural cells, are a part of the neurovascular unit located between capillaries, neurons, and astrocytes. They control the blood flow to the brain and play a vital role in maintaining and regulating various microvascular functions, including the blood-brain barrier (BBB), blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain cells.
Research has found that pericytes can play a pivotal function in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, traumatic brain injury, diabetes, epilepsy, Huntington's disease, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, radiation necrosis, and glioma, to name a few.
It has been suggested that pericyte degeneration can contribute to Alzheimer's disease-related neurovascular dysfunction.3 The pericytes are known to clean the blood of toxins coming from gut microbes, dental infections as well as food/air derived micorparticles. These Microparticles circulate and cause damage to the pericytes and other cells of the neurovascular units which result in their cell membranes being damaged. The holes in the pericyte membrane allows calcium to enter into each pericyte which then causes constriction of the blood flow - leading to hypoxia. Thereafter, the particles of amyloids cause the pericytes to become more rigid, and this increased rigidity of stiffness causes premature aging, oxidation stress and draws inflammatory cells to the brain which often results in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

How to prevent Alzheimer's disease?

• Although loss and degeneration of pericytes cause Alzheimer's disease, Dr. Steenblock, D.O. claims that bone marrow stem cells can repair and replace the pericytes. He states that it is essential to keep the bone marrow healthy to prevent neurologic disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. “Walking daily for thirty minutes or more is one the best preventative therapies for Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Steenblock advises.
• As calcium is the final common pathway for cell death, removing excess calcium using EDTA Chelation Therapy makes sense. This therapy has been shown to treat Alzheimer's disease and some other such diseases like autism and heart diseases. Dr. Steenblock has performed this therapy for the last twenty years for a multitude of patients.
• Studies have revealed that estrogen can also help prevent Alzheimer's disease. Estrogen replacement can be neuroprotective and linked with decreased prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. Estrogen is known to affect many cellular processes, reduces β-amyloid induced cell death, supports forebrain neurons lost in Alzheimer's disease, and protects the overall neural health.

Dr. Steenblock, D.O. is a highly qualified, well-reputed, and exceptionally rated osteopathic physician with years of experience treating Alzheimer's disease as well as forty years specializing in stem cells and stem cell treatments. Through today, he has successfully treated thousands of patients suffering from mild to moderate and chronic cases of Alzheimer's. Patients claimed that it was a life-changing treatment for them, and they could return to their every day and healthier lives more quickly than expected. “The diagnosis of Alzheimers is becoming more clear as we discover more and more methods to determine the difference between vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. A few simple blood tests such as ESR, CRP, D-Dimes. When fibrinogen is elevated, vascular dementia, not Alzheimer’s is likely the cause.” Dr. Steenblock tells us.
If you seek the best treatment of Alzheimer's disease, book your consultation with exceptionally rated Dr. Steenblock. His 7500 square foot clinic, Personalized Regenerative Medicine, is located in San Clemente, California and treats patients with a variety of ailments from around the world. Those who wish to learn more can visit his website at www.strokedoctor.com or call 949.367.8870

References

1. Winkler EA, Sagare AP, Zlokovic BV. The pericyte: A Forgotten Cell Type with Important Implications for Alzheimer’s disease? Brain Pathol Zurich Switz. 2014;24(4):371-386. doi:10.1111/bpa.12152

rn2. Cheng J, Korte N, Nortley R, Sethi H, Tang Y, Attwell D. Targeting pericytes for therapeutic approaches to neurological disorders. Acta Neuropathol (Berl). 2018;136(4):507-523. doi:10.1007/s00401-018-1893-0

3. Pericytes Don’t Go With the Flow—They Change It | ALZFORUM. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/pericytes-dont-go-flow-they-change-it?fbclid=IwAR18aQrGW_kankqAAVriuASfX13ZJ2_s1s2tCgyBM_jH2Lb0Rr8vJFDleSM

4. Sohrabji F. Guarding the Blood–Brain Barrier: A Role for Estrogen in the Etiology of Neurodegenerative Disease. Gene Expr. 2018;13(6):311-319.