449 lines
30 KiB
HTML
449 lines
30 KiB
HTML
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<head><title>Membranes, plasma membranes, and surfaces</title></head>
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<h1>
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Membranes, plasma membranes, and surfaces
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</h1>
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<p>
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<hr />
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<hr />
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</p>
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<p>
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The "essential fatty acids":
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</p>
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<p>
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Suppress metabolism and promote obesity; are immunosuppressive; cause inflammation and shock; are required
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for alcoholic liver cirrhosis; sensitize to radiation damage; accelerate formation of aging pigment,
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cataracts, retinal degeneration; promote free radical damage and excitoxicity; cause cancer and accelerate
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its growth; are toxic to the heart muscle and promote atherosclerosis; can cause brain edema, diabetes,
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excessive vascular permeability, precocious puberty, progesterone deficiency....
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</p>
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<p>
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<hr />
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<hr />
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</p>
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<p>
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Twice, editors have printed my articles on unsaturated fats, with adjoining "rebuttals," but I was
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disappointed that all of my points were ignored, as if you could rebut an argument by just saying that you
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emphatically disagree with it. I think it is evident that those people don't know what would be involved in
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refuting an argument. They are annoyed that I have bothered them with some evidence, but not sufficiently
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annoyed to cause them to try to marshal some evidence against my arguments.
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</p>
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<p>
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Marketing and medical claims are intertwined with a view of life that permeates our culture. I am aware that
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my criticism of the doctrine of the essentiality of linoleic acid threatens the large profits of many
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people, and threatens the prestige of the most popular "theory of cell structure," but I think it is
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important to point out that nutritional and medical advice depend on the truth of the theory of cell
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structure and function which supports that advice, and so it is reasonable to see how sound that theory is.
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</p>
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<p>
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As I understand it, the doctrine of the "essential fatty acids" goes this way:
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</p>
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<p>
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1. They are essential because they are required for making cell membranes and prostaglandins.
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</p>
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<p>
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2. Rats deprived of the unsaturated fatty acids develop a skin disease, and "lose water" through the skin.
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</p>
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<p>
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3. Human skin diseases (etc.) can be cured with polyunsaturated fats.
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</p>
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<p>
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In fact, rats may get a skin disease when fed a fat-free diet, but the observation that vitamin B6 cures it
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should have laid to rest the issue of the dietary essentiality of the polyunsaturated oils more than 50
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years ago. Scientifically, it did, but forces greater than science have revivified the monster. Experiments
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that confirm the disproof are done periodically--animals living generation after generation without
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unsaturated oils in their diet or any evidence of harm, human cells growing in culture-dishes without
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polyunsaturated fats, for example--without noticeable effect on the doctrine, which is perpetuated in many
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effective, nonscientific ways--textbooks, advertisements, college courses, for example.
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</p>
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<p>
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Now, instead of demonstrating harm from a dietary lack of the "essential" fats, the presence of the Mead
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acid or omega-9 fatty acids is taken as evidence of a deficiency. Our cells (and animal cells) produce these
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unsaturated fats when their special desaturase enzymes are not suppressed by the presence of exogenous
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linoleic or linolenic acids. Normally, the inactivation of an enzyme system and the suppression of a natural
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biological process might be taken as evidence of toxicity of the vegetable oils, but here, the occurrence of
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the natural process is taken as evidence of a deficiency. To me, this seems very much like the "disease" of
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having tonsils, an appendix, or a foreskin--if it is there, you have a problem, according to the aggressive
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surgical mentality. But what is the "problem" in the case of the natural Mead or omega-9 acids? (I think the
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"problem" is simply that they allow us to live at a higher energy level, with greater resistance to stress,
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better immunity, and quicker healing.)
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</p>
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<p>
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There have been arguments based on "membranes" and on prostaglandins. The absence of "good" prostaglandins
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would seem to be an obvious problem, except that the "good" prostaglandins always turn out to have some
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seriously bad effects when examined in other contexts. Animals that lack dietary unsaturated fats appear to
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escape most of the problems that are associated with prostaglandins, and I think this means that many of the
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toxic effects of the unsaturated vegetable oils result from the quantity and type of
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"eicosanoid"/lipoxygenase products made from them.
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</p>
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<p>
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One type of membrane argument had to do with the fragility of red blood cells, reasoning, apparently, that
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the cells are "held together" by a lipid bilayer membrane. (Just what is the tensile strength of a lipid
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bilayer? Why do fatty acids or saponins weaken blood cells, instead of reinforcing them? If the "tensile
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strength" of a lipid layer exists, and is positive rather than negative, it is negligible in relation to the
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tensile strength of the cytoplasm.) Another type of :"membrane" argument was that the mitochondria are
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abnormal when animals don't get the essential fatty acids in their diet, because the mitochondria are
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supposed to be essentially membranous structures containing the essential fatty acids. (Actually, the
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deficient mitochondria produce more ATP than do mitochondria from animals fed the vegetable oils.) Another
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argument is that "membrane fluidity" is a good thing, and that unsaturated essential fatty acids make the
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membranes more fluid and thus better--by analogy with their lower bulk-phase melting temperature. (But the
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measure of fluidity is a very limited thing on the molecular level, and this fluidity may be associated with
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decreased cellular function, instead of the postulated increase.)
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</p>
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<p>
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The most addled sort of argument about "membranes" is that animals on the diet lacking polyunsaturated oils
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have skin that is unable to retain water because of "defective cell membranes." The skin's actual barrier
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function is the result of mulptile layers of keratinized ("cornified," horny) cells, which have become
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specialized by their massive production of the protein keratin--very much as red blood cells become
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specialized by producing the protein, hemoglobin. Since these cells lose most of their water as they become
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horny, the issue of whether they still have a "plasma membrane" seems to have little interest to
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researchers; the same can be said regarding the cells of hair and nails. After the epidermal cells have
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become keratinized and inert, the sebaceous glands in the skin secrete oils, which are absorbed by the
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dense, proteinaceous cells, causing increased resistance to water absorption. The ideas of a plasma membrane
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on the cell, and of the water-barrier function of the skin, are two distinct things, that have been blurred
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together in a thoughtless way. It has been suggested that vitamin B6 cures the characteristic skin disorder
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of a vitamin B6 deficiency by altering fat metabolism, but the vitamin is involved in cell division and many
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other processes that affect the skin.
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</p>
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<p>
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Given the fact that the "essential" oils aren't essential for the growth of cells, they can't be essential
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for making plasma membranes (if cells must have plasma membranes), or mitochondrial membranes, or any kind
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of membrane, but as long as there is the idea that fats mainly have the function of building membranes,
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someone is going to argue that membranes containing vegetable oils are more fluid, or more youthful, or more
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sensitive, or better in some way than those containing Mead acids, palmitic acid, oleic acid, stearic acid,
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etc.
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</p>
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<p>
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For over a century, people have suggested that cells are enclosed in an oily membrane, because there are
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higher or lower concentrations of many water-soluble substances inside cells, than in the blood, lymph, and
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other extracellular fluids, and the idea of a membrane was invoked (W. Pfeffer, 1877; E. Overton, 1895,
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1902) to explain how that difference can persist. (By 1904, the idea of a membrane largely made of lecithin
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was made ludicrous by A. Nathansohn's observation that water-soaked lecithin loses its oily property, and
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becomes very hydrophilic; the membrane was supposed to exclude water-soluble molecules while admitting
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oil-soluble molecules.)
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</p>
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<p>
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Inside the cell membrane, the cell substance was seen as a watery solution. Biochemistry, as a profession,
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was strongly based on the assumption that, when a tissue is ground up in water, the dilute extract closely
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reflects the conditions that existed in the living cell. Around 1970, when I tried to talk to biochemists
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about ways to study the chemistry of cells that would more closely reflected the living state, a typical
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response was that the idea was ridiculous, because it questioned the existence of biochemistry itself as a
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meaningful science.. But since then, there has been a progressive recognition that organization is more
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important in the life of a cell than had been recognized by traditional biochemistry. Still, many
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biochemists thoughtlessly identify the chemistry of the living cell with their study of the water-soluble
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enzymes, and relegate the insoluble residue of the cell to "membrane-associated proteins" or, less
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traditionally, to "structural proteins." It has been several decades since the structural/contractile
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protein of muscle was found to be an enzyme, an ATPase, but the idea that the cell itself is a sort of
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watery solution, in which the water-soluble enzymes float, randomly mingling with dissolved salts, sugars,
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etc., persists, and makes the idea of a semipermeable membrane seem necessary, to separate a "watery
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internal phase" from the watery external phase. Physical chemists have no trouble with the fact that a moist
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protein can absorb oil as well as water, and the concept that even water-soluble enzymes have oil-loving
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interiors is well established. If that physical-chemical information had existed in Overton's time, there
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would have been no urge to postulate an oily membrane around cells, to allow substances to pass into them,
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in proportion to their solubility in oil.
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</p>
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<p>
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Because biochemists like to study their enzymes in watery test-tube solutions, they find it easy to think of
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the cell-substance as a watery solution. With that belief, it is natural that they prefer to think of the
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primeval ocean as where life originated. Their definitions of chemical reactions and equilibria in the
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water-phase (and by extension in cells) ignore the alternative reactions and equilibria that would occur in
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an environment in which ordinary water was not the dominant medium. By this failure to consider the
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alternatives, they have created some problems that are hard to explain. For example, the polymerization of
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amino acids into protein is energetically expensive in water, but it is spontaneous in a relatively dry
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environment, and this spontaneous reaction creates non-random structures with the capacity for building
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larger structures, with stainable bilayer "membranes," and with catalytic action. (Sidney Fox, 1965, 1973.)
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Similarly, the problem of ATP synthesis essentially disappears when it is considered in an environment that
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controls water. The scientific basis for the origin of life in a "primeval soup" never really existed, and
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more people are now expressing their scepticism. However, biochemists have their commitments:
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</p>
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<p>
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"In the course of biological evolution, one of the first developments must have been an oily membrane that
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enclosed the water-soluble molecules of the primitive cell, segregating them and allowing them to accumulate
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to relatively high concentrations. The molecules and ions contained within a living organism differ in kind
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and in concentration from those in the organism's surrounding." (Principles of Biochemistry, supposedly by
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Lehninger, Nelson, and Cox, though Lehninger is dead and I think his name is attached to it to exploit his
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fame.# Worth Publishers, 1993.)
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</p>
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<p>
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Hair is composed of thoroughly dead cells, but if it is washed until it contains no sodium or potassium, and
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then dipped in serum, or a solution of sodium and potassium, it takes up much more potassium than sodium, in
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the way a living cell does, concentrating potassium "against the gradient." That is the sort of behavior
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that led to the postulation of a plasma membrane, to maintain the organization that was created by expending
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energy. "Membrane pumps" use energy, supposedly, to establish the concentration difference, and the barrier
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membrane keeps the solutes from diffusing away. The lipid bilayer membrane was an early guess, and the pumps
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were added later, as needed. Gilbert Ling reviewed the published studies on the various "membrane pumps,"
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and found that the energy needed to operate them was 15 times greater than all the energy the cell could
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possibly produce.
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</p>
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<p>
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Water softeners contain an ion-exchange resin, that uses the same principle hair does to concentrate ions,
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which is simply a selectivity based on the acidity of the resin, and the size of the ion. The resin binds
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calcium more strongly than it binds sodium, and so the water gives up its calcium in exchange for sodium.*
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Gilbert Ling devised many experiments that demonstrated the passivity of ion-accumulation by living cells.
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</p>
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<p>
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Usually, cells are surrounded by and imbedded in materials that they have secreted, and their surfaces are
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often covered with materials that, while remaining anchored to the cell, have a considerable affinity for
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water. Physically, many of the molecules attached to cells are "surfactants," making the cell wettable,
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though it isn't customary to describe them as such. The glycoproteins that give cells their characteristic
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immunological properties are among these materials. At a certain point, there is a transition between the
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"outside" of the cell, which is relatively passive and water-friendly, and the cell itself, in which water
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is subordinated to the special conditions of the cell. (The postulated lipid bilayer membrane, in contrast,
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has two phase discontinuities, one where it meets the cytoplasm, another where it meets the outside world.)
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At this phase boundary, between two different substances, it is normal to find an electrical potential
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difference. When two electrically different substances are in contact, it isn't surprising to find an
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electrical double-layer at the surface. This is a passive process, which doesn't take any energy to
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maintain, but it can account for specific arrangements of molecules in the region of the phase boundary,
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since they are exposed to the electrical force of the electrical double-layer. That is to say that in a
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completely inert and homogeneous substance, a "surface structure" will be generated, as a result of the
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electrical difference between that substance and the adjoining substance. (This surface structure, if it is
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to be described as a membrane, must be called a "wet membrane," while the lipid bilayer would be a "dry
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membrane," since exclusion of water is its reason for existing.) Too many biologists still talk about
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"electrogenic membrane pumps," indicating that they haven't assimilated the results of Gilbert Ling's
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research.
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</p>
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<p>
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To say it another way, there are several kinds of physical process that will govern the behavior of fats,
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and fats of different types will interact in different ways with their environments. They interact complexly
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with their environment, serving in many cases as regulatory signal-substances. To describe their role as
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"membranes" is worse than useless.
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</p>
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<p>
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Cells can be treated with solvents to remove practically all fats, yet the cells can still show their
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characteristic membranes: Plasma membrane, mitochondrial membranes, even the myelin figures. The proteins
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that remain after the extraction of the fats appear to govern the structure of the cell.
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</p>
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<p>
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A small drop of water can float for a moment on the surface of water; this is explained in terms of the
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organization of the water molecules near the surface. No membrane is needed to explain this reluctance to
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coalesce, even though water has a very high affinity for water.
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</p>
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<p>
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People believed in the "lipid bilayer membrane" for decades before the electron microscope was able to
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produce an image that could be said to correspond to that theoretical structure. Osmic acid, which is
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believed to stain fats, does produce a double layer at the surface of cells. However, the arrangement of fat
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molecules in the lipid bilayer is such that the fatty tails of the two layers are touching each other, while
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their acidic heads are pointed away from each other. A lipid bilayer, in other words, contains a single zone
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of fat, bounded by two layers of acid. The "fat-staining" property of osmic acid, then, argues against the
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lipid bilayer structure.
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</p>
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<p>
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Osmic acid is very easily reduced electrically, forming a black product. Proteins with their sulfur
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molecules in a reduced state, for example, would cause an osmium compound to be deposited, and the
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appearance of two layers of osmium at the cell's phase boundary would be compatible with the idea of an
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electrical double-layer, induced in proteins.
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</p>
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<p>
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Electrically charged proteins, which are able to interact with glutathione to increase or decrease their
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degree of reduction/electrical charge, distributed throughout the cytoplasm, would explain another feature
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of osmic acid staining, which is incompatible with the "fat-staining" concept. Asphyxia increases the
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stainability of cells with osmic acid, and this change seems to represent the availability of electrons,
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rather than the distribution of fats, since the change can appear within 3 minutes. (C. Peracchia and J. D.
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Robertson, <strong>"Increase in osmiophilia of axonal membranes of crayfish as a result of electrical
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stimulation, asphyxia, or treatment with reducing agents,"</strong> J. Cell Biol. 51, 223, 1971; N. N.
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Bogolepov, Ultrastructure of the Brain in Hypoxia, Mir, Moscow, 1983) The amino groups of proteins might
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also be stained by osmic acid, though asphyxia would more directly affect the disulfide groups. The
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increased staining with silver in asphyxia similarly suggests an increase in sulfhydryls.
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</p>
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<p>
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Freezing cells, and then fracturing them and coating the fragments with metal or carbon is often used to
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"demonstrate the lipid bilayer," so it is interesting that the <strong>osmium compound that "reveals" the
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lipid bilayer for the electron microscope destroys the apparent membrane in the freezing
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technique.</strong> (R. James and D. Branton, "The correlation between the saturation of membrane fatty
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acids and the presence of membrane fracture faces after osmium fixation," Biochim. Biophys. Acta 233,
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504-512, 1971; M. V. Nermut and B. J. Ward, <strong>"Effect of fixatives on fracture plane in red blood
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cells," J. Microsc. 102, 29-39, 1974.)</strong>
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</p>
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<p>
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So, when someone says "we need the essential fatty acids to make cell membranes," my response is likely to
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be "no, we don't, and life probably originated on hot lava and has never needed lipid membranes."
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</p>
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<p>
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On the third argument, that vegetable oils can be used therapeutically, I am likely to say yes, they do have
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some drug-like actions, for example, linseed oil has been used as a purgative, but as with any drug you
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should make sure that the side effects are going to be acceptable to you. Currently, it is popular to
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recommend polyunsaturated oils to treat eczema and psoriasis. These oils are immunosuppressive, so it is
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reasonable to think that there might be some pleasant consequences if a certain immunological process is
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suppressed, but they are also intimately involved with inflammation, sensitivity to ultraviolet light, and
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many other undesirable things. The traditional use of coal tar and ultraviolet light was helpful in
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suppressing eczema and psoriasis, but its tendency to cause cancer has led many people to forego its
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benefits to protect their health.
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</p>
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<p>
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If you want to use a polyunsaturated oil as a drug, it is worthwhile to remember that the "essential fatty
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acids" suppress metabolism and promote obesity; are immunosuppressive; cause inflammation and shock; are
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required for alcoholic liver cirrhosis; sensitize to radiation damage; accelerate formation of aging
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pigment, cataracts, retinal degeneration; promote free radical damage and excitoxicity; cause cancer and
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accelerate its growth; are toxic to the heart muscle and promote atherosclerosis; can cause brain edema,
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diabetes, excessive vascular permeability, precocious puberty, progesterone deficiency, skin wrinkling and
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other signs of aging.
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</p>
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<p>
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Whether any of the claimed pharmaceutical uses of the polyunsaturated oils, besides purgation, turn out to
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be scientifically valid remains to be seen. The theoretical bases often used to back up the claimed benefits
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are confused or false, or both.
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</p>
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<p>
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People who are willing to question the validity of an "orthodox method," such as the glass microelectrode,
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are in a position to make observations that were "forbidden" by the method and its surrounding ideology.
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(See Davis, et al., 1970.) Their perception is freed in ways that could lead to new understanding and
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practical solutions to old problems.
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</p>
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<p>
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But sometimes experiments seem to be designed as advertising, rather than science. Recent studies of the
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effects of fish oils on night vision or development of the retina, for example, seem to forget that fish oil
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contains vitamin A, and that vitamin A has the effects that are being ascribed to the unsaturated fatty
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acids.
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</p>
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<p>
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With the financial cutbacks in university libraries, there is a risk that the giant seed-oil organizations
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will succeed in using governmental power to regulate the alternative communication of scientific
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information, allowing them to control both public and "scientific" opinion more completely than they do now.
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</p>
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<p>
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<h3>
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ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
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</h3>
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</p>
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<p>
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Gilbert N. Ling, A Revolution in the Physiology of the Living Cell, Krieger Publ., Melbourne, Florida, 1993.
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</p>
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<p>
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G. N. Ling, "A new model for the living cell: A summary of the theory and experimental evidence for its
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support," Int. Rev. Cytol. 26, 1, 1969.
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</p>
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<p>
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G. N. Ling, A Physical Theory of the Living State, Blaisdell, New York, 1960.
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</p>
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<p>
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S. W. Fox, Nature 205, 328, 1965; Naturwissenschaften 60, 359, 1973.
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</p>
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<p>
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S. W. Fox and K. Dose, Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1977.
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</p>
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<p>
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S. Fleischer, B. Fleischer, and W. Stoeckenius, J. Cell Ciol. 32, 193, 1967.
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</p>
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<p>
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H. J. Morowitz and T. M. Terry, Biochem. Biophys. Acta 183, 276, 1969.
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</p>
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<p>
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L. Napolitano, F. Le Baron, and J. Scaletti, J. Cell Biol. 34, 817, 1967.
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</p>
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<p>
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F. W. Cope and R. Damadian, "Biological ion exchanger resins: IV. Evidence for potassium association with
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fixed charges in muscle and brain by pulsed NMR of 39K," Physiol. Chem. Phys. 6, 17, 1974.
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</p>
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<p>
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R. Damadian, "Biological ion exchanger resins. III. Molecular interpretations of cellular ion exchange,"
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Biophys. J. 11, 773, 1971.
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</p>
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<p>
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R. Damadian, "Biological ion exchanger resins," Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 204, 211, 1973.
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</p>
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<p>
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B. V. Deryaguin, "Recent research into the ptroperties of water in thin films and in microcapillaries,"
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pages 55-60, in The State and Movement of Water in Living Organisms, XIXth Symposium of Soc. Exp. Biol.,
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Cambridge Univ. Press, 1964.
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</p>
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<p>
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J. S. Clegg and W. Drost-Hansen, "On the density of intracellular water," J. Biol. Phys. 10, 75-84, 1982.
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</p>
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<p>
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J. S. Clegg, "Properties and metabolism of the aqueous cytoplasm and its boundaries," Am. J. Physiol. 26,
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R133-R151, 1984.
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</p>
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<p>
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<p>
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W. Drost-Hansen, "Structure and properties of water at biological interfaces," in Chemistry of the Cell
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Interface, vol. 2, pages 1-184, H. D. Brown, editor, Academic Press, 1971.
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</p>
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<p>
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W. Drost-Hansen and J. Clegg, editors, Cell-Associated Water, Academic Press, 1979.
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</p>
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<p>
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C. F. Hazlewood, "A view of the significance and understanding of the physical properties of cell-associated
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water," pages 165-259 in Cell-Associated Water, Drost-Hansen and Clegg, editors, Academic Press, 1979.
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</p>
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<p>
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P. M. Wiggins, "Water structure as a determinant of ion distribution in living tissue," J. Theor. Biol. 32,
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131-144, 1971.
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</p>
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<p>
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R. Damadian and F. W. Cope, Physiol. Chem. Phys. 5, 511, 1973.
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F. W. Cope, "A review of the applications of solid state physics concepts to biological systems," J. Biol.
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Phys. 3, 1 1975.
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<p>
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D. N. Nasonov, Local Reaction of Protoplasm and Gradual Excitation, Israel Program for Scientific
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Translations, Jerusalem, Office of Technical Services, U.S. Dept.of Commerce, Washington, DC, 1962.
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A. Nathansohn, Jahrb. Wiss. Bot. 39, 607, 1904.
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<p>
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A. S. Troshin, Problems of Cell Permeability, Pergamon Press, London, 1966.
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<p>
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A. S. Troshin, Byull. Eksp. Biol. Med. 34, 59, 1952.
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<p>
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I. Tasaki, Nerve Excitation: A Macromolecular Approach, Thomas, Springfield, 1968.
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</p>
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<p>
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Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Bioenergetics, Academic Pressn New York, 1957.
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</p>
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<p>
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Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, The Living State and Cancer, Marcel Deker, New York, 1978.
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<p>
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T. L. Davis, et al., "Potentials in frog cornea and microelectrode artifact," Amer. J. Physiol. 219(1),
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178-183, 1970.
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</p>
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<p>
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|
NOTES:
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</p>
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<p>
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# In their preface, Nelson and Cox say their book has retained "Lehninger's ground-breaking organization, in
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|
which a discussion of biomolecules is followed by metabolism and then information pathways," but that at
|
|
every other level "this second edition is a re-creation, rather than a revision, of the original text. Every
|
|
chapter has been comprehensively overhauled, not just by adding and deleting information, but by completely
|
|
reorganizing its presentation and content...." This is reminiscent of the book published under the name of
|
|
Max Gerson after his death, which inserted essentially fraudulent material to support an approach that is
|
|
exactly what Gerson strongly advised against.
|
|
</p>
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<p>
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* This principle might be applicable to the removal of calcium from living cells, with a procedure that
|
|
wouldn't have the dangers of chelation. Increased consumption of sodium and magnesium should facilitate the
|
|
removal and excretion of abnormally retained calcium. Sodium has been found to protect tissues against
|
|
oxidative damage, for example during cancer therapy with cis-platinum.
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</p>
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<p><hr /></p>
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© Ray Peat Ph.D. 2009. All Rights Reserved. www.RayPeat.com
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