Spider Man, Pac-Man & Energy Combustion in Human Immunity
Hello, I am Julie Donaldson and I am a clinical nutritionist with functional health training. I specialize in restoring balance in complex, chronic and acute health conditions. I welcome you to peruse other articles that may be of interest to you in your health investigation!
“How many times have you heard “We need to stimulate your immune system” from someone? And then they “stimulate” and you feel worse? For me, it was countless times. And no one ever spoke to me about making energy...without it, my systems just burned out. My body couldn’t do what it was being asked to do. Julie gets it, and she led me back to health after decades of suffering.”
If a super hero and a video game icon help you to understand your body and its combustion of nutritional energy…I’m all in for the imagery! Brand new research is showing us how utterly critical a successful Krebs cycle is for the balancing of M1 and M2 macrophage cells. The macrophage is the Pac-Man of the immune system, gobbling up pathogens and tissue debris. In this article, we’ll talk about how these pieces intersect and include the Spider Man effect as well which stems from immune cells called neutrophils. Here at True Nature, we are always referencing the Krebs cycle - it is a complex cycle where your nutrients are inserted when you eat in order to produce energy. This is metabolic controlled combustion. Without proper function here, it’s game over for your Pac-Men before the game even starts! Let’s talk about how to prevent this problem.
ATP production and successful energy combustion
ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is produced from the final stage of the Krebs cycle which is mitochondrial respiration. This is a form of controlled combustion which produces energy.
Just like your car requires the right amount of fuel, spark, oxygen and oil to ignite and run, your body requires its own unique feed to do the same.
A balanced input of micronutrients based upon personal needs creates the greatest efficiency in the Krebs cycle. ATP is required by every cell in the body, no matter its function, in order to complete its specific tasks. Your organs’ cells plus those of the immune and nervous systems all stand at the ready when food processing is complete in order to receive their share of ATP. Cells that are completing detoxification and new cell growth also require ATP. These functions are going on continually in the body every single day. When ATP stores are inadequate, the body will prioritize and limit functions in order to assure survival of the vital organs. This means that a body that is trying to heal, clean up debris and generate brand new cells will sit on idle. Also during this state, toxins are tucked away into bone, connective tissue and the nervous system rather than being cleared. The body does this in its innate wisdom in order to protect vital organs from toxic damage. Over the long haul, however, those storage areas will begin to suffer damage as the toxic soup accumulates.
While many practitioners apply copious supplements in efforts to support ATP production and mitochondrial function, here at True Nature, the personalized nutrition format of Metabolic Typing® is what is utilized for this purpose. MT® creates balance and stability in all of the body’s homeostatic mechanisms and allows for optimization of ATP in the Krebs cycle. It is a much more effective approach to ATP production than supplementation. Plus, it is functioning with every meal you consume, day in and day out - you are feeding yourself optimally while also generating optimal levels of ATP.
What is the role of the macrophage and how is ATP associated with it?
The macrophage is a gobbling cell (the Pac-Man) in the immune system. There are M1 and M2 cells in the macrophage category. M1 macs kill pathogens while M2’s clean up tissue debris. Not enough M1? - the body can’t kill pathogens. Not enough M2? - the body can’t clean up debris. Either problem can create immune stress. If you can’t kill pathogens, you have a greater viral, bacterial, and/or fungal burden with consequences that are certain to include higher amounts of inflammation. Patients with higher viral burden are more than twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease. (Exp Clin Cardiol. 2012, and Biomed Res Int. 2016). But if you can’t clear tissue debris, the debris functions as a field of damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), an effect that is also inflammatory. When debris fills your blood vessels, good stuff can’t get in and bad stuff can’t get out - inflammation in this scenario eventually turns into disease.
The natural oscillatory flow of macs between M1 killing and M2 debris clearance keeps everything running smoothly. It is important to eliminate factors that perturb that balance. One such thing is a failed Krebs cycle. Interference with the cycle prevents corticosteroids from accomplishing their anti-inflammatory effects. This finding from the brand new research linked earlier has hugely consequential clinical implications. It suggests that in people whose metabolism is working poorly, macrophage balance will be impacted and they will not get the anti-inflammatory effect from the cortisol their bodies produce. While the research utilized corticosteroids to produce anti-inflammatory responses, the body makes its own (the purpose of the investigation) in the form of cortisol. In those with adrenal stress (another very common outcropping of the wrong nutrition & low ATP production), cortisol levels can be low/inadequate for de-inflaming the body. Downregulation of cortisol receptors with chronic stress is another way the anti-inflammatory effect of cortisol might be limited. Additionally, we now know that poor macrophage metabolic integrity may be a more important way that cortisol might fail to reduce inflammation.
In an ideal world, targeted inflammation is part of the normal housekeeping processes by which the immune system kills pathogens. It is the Th1 arm of the immune system that stimulates macrophages to kill pathogens. In the process, those M1 cells produce inflammatory cytokines. That targeted inflammation is local to the infected tissue and has a Bell curve response during which the pathogens are killed and ends with resolution. But if you are chronically infected, inflamed and lacking metabolic integrity, the curve does not resolve. Your M2 Pac-Men never get to the game!
Where does Spider Man play into this scenario?
Another fairly recent discovery involves the production of a sticky net thrown out by your body’s neutrophils - this is the Spider Man of the story!
Neutrophil “NET” with bacteria
The purpose of the net casting is to trap pathogens and signal macrophages to migrate to the area, discharge their inflammatory cytokines, bite into the net to consume the pathogen and then prepare for debris cleanup. NETs carry chemical red flags that prompt macrophages. While gobbling down its catch, the macrophage is "actually taking this giant bite out of the NET”, senior study author Eric Skaar said. The antimicrobial proteins from the NET then mix with antimicrobial proteins already in the macrophage's "belly," so together, the two cell types launch coordinated attacks, degrading pathogens more effectively than either cell alone.
There appear to be some variable timing factors in how quickly neutrophils release these webs. A protein called S100A9 activates the slinging of the neutrophil webs. When neutrophils that are low in this protein encounter staph bacteria, for example, their mitochondria leak electrons and generate harmful free radicals in the cell. This, in turn, drives the cell to self-destruct and release its NETs more quickly than it would otherwise. This super-speedy NET casting boosts the ability of neutrophils and macrophages to clear the bacteria from the body.
A quick review on the production of ATP via mitochondrial respiration
Key to this entire process of successfully fighting the bad guys is the production of ATP. Let’s do a quick review on how this occurs following the introduction of the proper ratios of macronutrients (proteins, fats & carbohydrates) for the individual:
Digestion
Food is introduced into the oral cavity. The breakdown of proteins, fats and carbohydrates begins with saliva.
Chewed/swallowed food enters the stomach. Gastric juices further digest the food.
Complex carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and other byproducts in the intestines. The glucose is absorbed by the walls of the intestines and enters the blood stream. Amino acids and fatty acids from proteins and fats are also diffused through the plasma membrane to be absorbed by the cells of your body.
Cellular Respiration
Blood with oxygen from the lungs and glucose from the intestines is pumped out to the capillaries where the oxygen and glucose diffuse into individual cells.
Inside each cell, a chemical reaction called glycolysis splits the glucose molecules and produces enzymes and energy-carrying molecules called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). (ATP is the "gas" to every one of your body's trillion cells.)
The Krebs cycle steps use some of the enzymes produced by glycolysis to produce additional enzymes, more ATP and carbon dioxide.
The enzymes produced by glycolysis and the Krebs cycle enter the electron transport chain and produce a large number of ATP molecules. The final hydrogen reaction products combine with oxygen to form water.
Elimination
The carbon dioxide and water diffuse out of the cells into the blood stream and are passed back to the heart through the veins.
The blood is pumped through the lungs to eliminate carbon dioxide and through the kidneys to eliminate surplus water.
Summations and solutions
Everything begins with energy. Energy in the body depends upon proper nutrition for the individual and then upon the processing of macronutrients through the Krebs cycle.
The Krebs cycle and the health of mitochondria are major players in human immunity. Macrophages and neutrophils depend upon the controlled combustion occurring in the cycle in order to mount attacks upon pathogens invading the human body and clear the debris that occurs in the attack. Your body depends upon both to remain healthy and keep open lines for receiving nutrients and oxygen.
This is just one more arena in which the fundamental stabilization of health through personalized nutrition feeds critical processes in the body. Without balance and adequate response in the immune system (both inflammatory and resolving), the immune system remains in the top of a Bell curve and eventually tips towards autoimmunity as a result.
For more information and/or to determine your personal needs, please contact me at Julie@truenaturehealthconsulting.com. We provide holistic telehealth services.
Happy gobbling!
