The forgotten part of the blood vessels- a key to vascular disease protection?

What is happening with the food we eat?
Can we really affect this complex machine that is our body by controlling our food intake?

In my research in the fields of nutrition, biochemistry and physiology, I’ve found an interesting thing nobody is talking about — there is a layer in our blood vessels that acts as a gatekeeper for our blood vessel cells.

This layer is called the endothelial glycocalyx.

Why should ‘they’ talk about it?

If this layer is destroyed for some reason, the components of the blood have a free passage towards the endothelial cells (the cells of the blood vessels).

Some of the blood components are leukocytes, LDL-c and platelets which can, if present inside the endothelial cell, start the process of atherogenesis. Atherogenesis can then lead to all kinds of heart and other vascular system complications (Nieuwdorp et al., 2005).

In short: this layer, when functioning, protects the endothelial cells from being ‘naked’, ‘exposed’ and ‘vulnerable’.

Who are ‘they’?

I first heard about this layer in 2016. while I was living in Croatia. From then, until now (I live in Denmark), none of my professors or peers in the field of nutrition have heard about it.

OK, I figured — if this is newly discovered, maybe no one thought about connecting the layer preservation and diet therapy. Maybe it's ‘too early’ for them to know about it.

But, how about the doctors? — I conducted a mini-survey asking them:

1. Did you ever hear about endothelial glycocalyx (eGC)?
2. Do you know if somebody is measuring it in the clinical practice?
3. If they do, what kind of method are they using?

Here are the results of the survey:

The third question became mute at this point.

A bit about my survey population:

In total of 7 doctors, divided into two groups:

They were all curious about the functions of this layer, so, after we chatted for a bit, 100% of them said that they would like to have the option of measuring the thickness of this layer in their practice in order to track the progression of vascular diseases — the diseases in which this layer could be, in some way, compromised.

Stay tuned for more info!

I would like to know:
Did YOU ever hear about the existence of human endothelial glycocalyx?
Can you predict which doctors knew about the eGC and which didn't?

Lit:
Nieuwdorp, M., Meuwese, M. C., Vink, H., Hoekstra, J. B., Kastelein, J. J., & Stroes, E. S. (2005). The endothelial glycocalyx: a potential barrier between health and vascular disease. Current opinion in lipidology, 16(5), 507–511. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.mol.0000181325.08926.9c